RB are you serious?????? People come around ALL the time with sob stories (and I always fell for them, they knew a soft touch when they saw one). I used to give a lady who came around on Fridays until I found out she was an Israeli Arab. She always said “Kapara!!!? And she would wish me a good Shabbos. Go know.
Plenty of people collect because they know people don’t like to say no. But the real way to tell if someone is phony is in how he reacts to whatever you give. If he is genuinely collecting tzedaka for someone, he will appreciate whatever you give him. When he starts making faces and saying it’s not enough, you can bet he probably has less than altruistic motives. What I don’t like is the guy who parks a fancy car around the corner (I saw, and the guy didn’t know), tells me how destitute he is, complains about the $5 I gave him, wanting me to write him a check, and then gets into his car without a thank you, and sends another guy from the same car to my house with another hard luck story. When it’s legit, it’s legit, but these bad apples spoil it for all the others.