Most people like to give to causes that are close and dear to their hearts when it comes to offering charity. But they tend to pull on their heartstrings when they see a beggar in the street and make them want to help them out as well. Overall, that’s a great thing, but sometimes the people we see on the streets aren’t the ones we believe they are. We can’t know who we’re giving our money to.
Unfolded Mystery
As she looked on, she was frozen on the spot. For possible reasons, she searched her brain-for any reason. But one thing is clear: for a long time, she has been a fool! She couldn’t believe what she saw: a panhandler getting into an expensive vehicle. She understood then that she had to follow this mystery and solve it. She wasn’t ready for the lies she was going to uncover.
Unfolded Mystery
San Diego
On a normal day, when she saw the beggar again, Melissa Smith, from San Diego, California, was doing her usual routine. Something felt strange to Melissa, so she decided to do some detective work of her own, following her instinct. She saw the panhandler and her child, a boy, leaving while she was standing by her car. What spurred her into action was the next thing she saw.
San Diego
East Lake Village Center
The beggar had made a spot near the shopping plaza, to be exact, at the East Lave Village Center. This shopping district has a broad range of goodwill stores, dentists, restaurants, hairstylists, and retail, of course. The pregnant beggar knew for sure that there would be many people in this place who were willing to give the needy their extra money. But what she didn’t expect was that someone like Smith would observe her.
East Lake Village Center
Intuition
Seeing panhandlers and homeless people in California is not a new thing, but people still need to know that not all of them are truly hopeless. In particular, Smith was a little apprehensive about this pregnant beggar, but when she saw her every weekend at the same place, she didn’t entertain the idea. Smith said, “I felt bad. There’s a pregnant lady with a little boy who is down on her luck.” She didn’t know that her instinct was right.
Intuition
Heartstrings
To ask some extra cash, the pregnant panhandler would remain under the scorching heat of the sun. But she wasn’t always alone. Her young son would sometimes join her on the spot. Smith said there were days when the boy’s dad would be standing with them there as well. As pregnant beggars aren’t very common, they’ve become well known in the area. The fact that she’s pregnant tugged on people’s emotions and would make them give more than usual. But what do you think Smith discovered about the panhandler?
Heartstrings
Woman in Question
Until that day, Smith wasn’t skeptical. She had seen the same woman in the shopping center for two months. Smith thought the woman needed money. It would have been tough for anyone, let alone a pregnant woman, to stay there for a long time, especially under the scorching sun! But then, Smith saw something, and she knew she shouldn’t be silent about it.
Woman in Question
Master Planning
As she had to draw people’s emotions to get their money, the pregnant panhandler had to master the art of begging. She must have made a plan: a pregnant woman beside her boy, begging for money. She even had the words “Please Help” on her cardboard. Who won’t feel bad about someone like that? People felt bad, of course, and gave them money. Smith thought they’d discover soon. She didn’t know she’d be instrumental in exposing a much larger scheme.
Master Planning
Strange Development
Smith’s residence is close to the shopping district. But it was her first time to go there at that particular time. Typically, around mid-morning, she’d be on her way to the shopping center. As she left the area, she realized that her gas was running low. Then she went straight across the East Lake Village Center to the gas station. She was filling up her gas tank when she saw something suspicious that started her investigation.
Strange Development
Cautious Eye
As she was pumping gas into her car, Smith saw the pregnant beggar beginning to move. She didn’t find it strange. After all that time, she must have been tired under the sun. Smith kept watching her until she saw the car head towards the pregnant woman. This has made Smith even more interested. After that, what happened proved that her suspicions were correct.
Cautious Eye
Mercedes Benz
At first, Smith couldn’t understand what was happening. When she looked closely, however, she saw that the driver was the father of the little boy. The model of the car he was driving was a Mercedes Benz, a famous luxury brand, which surprised her. One of these cars is worth a fortune. Smith was wondering what the beggars were doing with such an expensive car. She didn’t think twice and followed them. What she discovered next was headlines material.
Mercedes Benz
Roof
“They were leaving, and I noticed they went into a Mercedes Benz. I thought, ‘Wow, a Mercedes Benz?'” stated Smith. When she followed the family in Mercedes Benz, she recorded the whole thing on her phone. “Lo and behold, they were in front of us. Here they are counting money, laughing. Their little boy is not in a car seat or a seat belt. He’s all the way in the front seat with them,” she said. Never had she felt so betrayed. She thought she needed to make everybody aware of this.
Roof
Caught Red-handed
Smith kept following the car, noticing they’d reached another shopping center. Not far from the one they came from. Everything seemed perfectly planned out. When they reached the shopping district, the pregnant beggar left the car and fooled everyone again. “She sits there with the sign. He goes (and) parks the Mercedes. They put up the sign and not less than five minutes; here she is getting money from all these people.” She didn’t know that a much more serious plot would soon be investigated and uncovered by the law.
Caught Red-handed
Enraged with Fury
Then Smith approached the beggar and her little boy. She began to take pictures. The pregnant panhandler saw her and was furious instantly. She started screaming and even grabbed the rock that supported her sign. “Next thing I know, she picked up this big boulder,” said Smith, “I don’t know if pregnant people can do that, but it was pretty big over her head and coming at me with this rock.” Someone saw and reported it to the police. When the panhandler realized what had happened, she grabbed her child and ran away.
Enraged with Fury
Undisclosed
Smith contacted a news station and revealed everything online. She wanted to warn everybody what this deceiving beggar had planned. The story got the news station’s attention, and they decided to run the car’s plate number. They were stunned to learn that the car was named after a woman and that the address was undisclosed. Knowing that others may have been on the same beggar, it was surprising.
Undisclosed
$2,500
Reporters have tracked them and found that the woman lives in the Encinitas Heights Apartment complex, costing residents $2,500 a month. They knocked on the door a few times, but no one answered the door. They were informed after a few more times that the residents of the said apartment had just moved in. And they realized that the one they were after had already packed up and left.
$2,500
Viral Content
The news and social media showed a lot of interest in this mystery, as Smith recorded everything on her phone. The story spread, and soon everyone found out about it. Smith said, “I feel bad. Don’t give these people money. They don’t need it. They’re driving a Benz.” People were furious about what they saw. A call was then received from the journalists, which prompted them to take action.
Viral Content
Another Witness
In another shopping center, Rebecca, another witness, saw the beggar. She said that as she went into the area to do some shopping, she recognized the beggar. A few minutes later, she called the journalists, and one of them arrived. – Emily Valdez.
Another Witness
Perplexed
Valdez immediately went to that area after she received the call and looked for the mystery panhandler. She didn’t see a pregnant woman, to her surprise. She saw; instead, a woman holding a baby. But only two days had passed since Melisa Smith took the photos. What happened, then?
Perplexed
“Is This You?”
Approaching the woman, Valdez and her crew asked, “Is this you begging?” as she showed her a picture of a pregnant beggar on her phone. The woman said she didn’t speak English after looking at the picture for a while. Was it her? Interestingly, there was also a boy in the tow with a woman holding a child who looked suspiciously like the one in the picture. The father came just as they asked the woman.
“Is This You?”
80% Match
He told the cameras to leave and took his family with him. They were caught on camera, getting inside a minivan. But that did not discourage the news crew. On a facial recognition program, they ran both women’s images, and the results showed an 80% match. Valdez, however, thought that the story was more than the meets the eye.
80% Match
Tell-tale Detail
The man spoke in Spanish first, but when he spoke to the beggar, he switched to another language. Unknowingly, with this little detail, he blew his cover. Valdez played the recording again and noticed the different language that he was using. She then called for some answers from the experts.
Tell-tale Detail
Retired Detective
A newly retired detective named Leslie Albright was watching Valdez’s news report. She worked as a detective in the San Diego Police Department for 25 years, and her specialization? Underground crime rings. In this particular case, something caught her attention, and she suddenly realized that the woman involved was more than just an ordinary beggar.
Retired Detective
Under the Exterior
The woman who made many people furious was about to be exposed due to what she did. But the story didn’t just end there. This case has shown a growing problem in the area. A dark underbelly that grew bigger and bigger beneath the fancy, glittering façade of California. Despite the risks, a Redditor had resolved to expose everything.
Under the Exterior
Given Away
In her tenure as a cop, Leslie had witnessed many criminal activities, and when she heard the man speak, she had a hunch that something was certainly wrong. She recognized the language the man used as she listened to the recordings of Valdez and her crew. She realized that the beggar’s modus operandi perfectly corresponded to the others she had seen in the past. But what might this possibly be?
Given Away
Hustling
Albright said the couple was linked to the California crime ring. They went to the country illegally, and they committed various crimes every day. They were said to live in upscale apartment blocks and have many cars to pull their scams on innocent people successfully. The woman and the child’s father may not even be a couple. And the “pregnancy” may only have been a tactic to pull everyone’s emotional strings. This case certainly had more layers to be uncovered.
Hustling
Always Moving
Worse still, this particular group of criminals hasn’t been in one place for a long time. This makes it extremely difficult for the police to lock them down. When they feel that someone has caught up with their scheme, they move to their next place immediately. That’s the case with the two suspects. But someone who knew them was giving information about them and putting his life at risk in the process.
Always Moving
Inside Information
After seeing the beggar’s video, a man give Reddit all the information he knew about the suspects. He said, “…I had a friend of a friend tell me that they knew them and that they’re just a hustling pair of Con Artists whose families conned their way into the country.” He also said he knew about the woman’s unpleasant past and how she had to start working for the organization at a young age. He removed his Reddit account after disclosing the said information because of fear that they would find out who he was.
Inside Information
The Bottom Rung
More investigation showed that the woman in the video and pictures often pretended to be pregnant to cause pity on the unsuspected victims. The sad truth is there may be more women like her across the country. Crime organization’s inner systems and operations are quite complicated, with some men leading the whole group. They assure women that they will provide food and housing to be dispatched to different areas across the country. Their deceptive methods of begging are sure to keep them in lavish homes and maintain expensive lifestyles.
The Bottom Rung
Taking Advantage
Albright said, “They’ll use the babies, children, anyway they can… the children will not go to school because their job and their future is the Family Business.” These children will grow up knowing only the life of crime and deceiving people. The Redditor who exposed this entire organization also wrote: “People should know, there’s PLENTY of service and organizations that exist to help people and ESPECIALLY for women with children. They’re taking advantage of them all as well as scamming people at the parking lot entrances. Neither of them is reporting the money they’re making from her begging, and both are claiming poverty to get state and federal assistance.”
Taking Advantage
A Caution
The nameless Reddit informant wrote, “They might be up and trying this scam again, or it might be another woman, either way, call the cops on them, making sure to tell the dispatch that they’re “the BMW scammers” so they’re identified, and the state can start the proper deportation proceedings against them… don’t help any of them or give money to any of the panhandlers you might see.” People have now become more cautious in giving their money away to panhandlers as the story became viral. We don’t know what other strategies this Californian crime organization has.
A Caution