I got a message on Twitter from a girl from Africa who, out of the blue, narrated me her life's story, and it's a pretty tragic one. Click the spoiler tag below to read it. Spoiler What is a Christian supposed to do in such situations?
Ignore it. Be involved or give money to a local ministry that you can visit and see with your eyes. Where I live there is a ministry that takes in homeless and drug addicted males, cleans them up, trains them for jobs, makes them go to chapel. That I will support. I visit there twice per month.
Given the high probability of it being a scam I'd say ignore it. I've thought for a long time that charity needs to be directed where it will actually help someone, rather than handing out money freely to anyone who says they need it without even trying to verify whether they actually are in need. Would you want to hand over your money so a Nigerian scammer can live in luxury when there are many who genuinely need that money?
One other point, it's quite common to find that the people in the greatest need are the least likely to shout about it. If you want to help people you may need to actively look for needs that you can help meet, and read between the lines a little. I still remember a couple of people I loosely knew at the same church - one would frequently make open comments about how they didn't know how they were going to cope with whatever their latest crisis was. The other was generally pretty quiet although one day they did ask me if I could help them with something that they struggled with themselves. The first person was basically a whinger. The second had severely impaired mobility - completely unable to get down to ground level, unable to bend or stoop, and the problem was that their front door wouldn't lock unless they leaned against it hard enough it caused discomfort. That problem had been ongoing for some days before the person asked if I might be able to help them with it.
A co-worker lives in his car, having been fleeced in a Nigerian scam. Cannot stress enough - give locally to reputable agencies, as advised above.
The reality is I can walk through the city all day and there will always be people who ask for money. I don't have the means to help everyone. There have been instances where people are standing outside of the grocery store asking for food. I will buy them water, maybe some bananas and a bag of apples. I have rethought this and they need to be bought a toothbrush, some floss and some toothpaste. There are also laws that say you have to take a course before you can feed the homeless because I imagine there are problems that need to be addressed. There are ministries who give out boxes of food and the challenge is helping them find the right ministries. Another issue is why are people asking for money when there are a lot of ministries that help people? My co-worker is anti God and would rather go hungry than have to accept food from a church and have to hear their mouth. The other issue is brought up by Paul that if you don't work, you shouldn't eat. That's offensive to a lot of people but the reality is there are finite resources and everyone needs to pitch in because the problem is too great. There are people who make a living at begging and I suspect some of them are accepting welfare from the government. Homelessness is a trap when people have to spend their energy trying to beg instead of look for employment.
People who want free handouts because it's easier than working (as it is in some cases, even if not all cases) don't want to go to a ministry because they would be rumbled. Technically what Paul said was that if a man will not work, neither shall he eat. There's a big difference between "will not work" and "cannot work" and indeed "cannot find work". The man who is perfectly able and willing to work and who is actively seeking work but unable to find work is a very different proposition from the man who simply can't be bothered. In years gone by it was probably easier to trade some work for a hot meal and maybe even a bed for the night. These days it's hard to imagine very many households allowing a total stranger into their home for the night in exchange for a day's work. In rural areas it might be possible to trade work for crops when dealing with a farmer or similar. It doesn't work so well in the city and doesn't work so well when crops are out of season. Most businesses aren't geared up to be able to process letting someone work for a couple of hours in exchange for a meal and even if they wanted to they would have to consider all sorts of legal liability issues.
One of the problems is that people overspend and need financial help. We have a throw away culture. I was at a homeless shelter run by Christians and they teach people to sew their old clothes into blankets. What you throw away is something people have to provide if you are in trouble. I've talked to people who run ministries from other countries. They want me to donate an amount every month to people. The problem I have is, "How much is enough?" And what happens if someone you are supporting decides to take that support and have a larger family? I can't watch people overseas so I asked the lady at the organization, "How much should I give?" Another lady use to live across the street from me and I found out she was a sex worker but claimed to be a sales woman and she left her job instead of support her ex who was taking care of her daughter. She claimed she couldn't work because of carpel tunnel syndrome from being a waitress but her pimp had a list of churches that donate all kinds of food and financial support and she was renting a house and when she moved, she had some of those moving pods that get put on a truck go with her. Eventually she abandoned her own daughter because she realized it was too hard to fight. She could work but she claimed she couldn't and its this behavior that gives me pause and there are other things involved.
We have a local person who constantly hits up the local churches with her latest sob story. As soon as a church bites and offers help the drama starts and the sob stories escalate. Thankfully my church got advance warning of her, although her original sob story had enough weird aspects to it that it lacked credibility right off the bat. Sometimes giving someone too much stuff too easily does nothing more than drain charitable funds while doing nothing to actually help the person on the receiving end.
Yeah, when I served as deacon, the local churches sometimes gave heads-up to each other about certain characters.
Be wise as serpents, as innocent as doves. I've started offering people work instead of money. Still haven't got the brush cut off the hillside.