Irvine police say they recently arrested a woman who is part of a crime group that carries out all types of scams and fraud in the area.
The woman was arrested for skimming money from ATMs and using fraudulent EBT cards to buy thousands of dollars worth of baby formula, police said.
While searching her car, officers uncovered evidence that the fraudster was also begging for money, and according to Sergeant Carrie Davies with Irvine PD, she doesn't actually need it.
Sergeant Davies said, "She had this sign claiming that she needed food; she had four children, she was struggling, and that was not the case. She was part of a bigger crime group that is doing all kinds of scams."
Though panhandling itself is not illegal - unless they're being aggressive - Davies said the department is alerting the public because, in this particular case, "The nature of how they're doing it is a scam."
"We don't even know if she had four kids," Davies said, adding they hadn't seen anything indicating the woman needed help.
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According to Davies, this is a national problem. Officers are seeing panhandlers with signs explicitly designed to pull on people's heartstrings, using kids as pawns "because nobody wants to think about a child without food or clothing or shelter."
Sergeant Davies wants people to use discretion before handing over their cash because while you're trying to do a kind thing, sometimes somebody is waiting nearby in a nice car to collect their ill-gotten gains.
Police believe this person pocketed $4,000 in one day on top of allegedly scamming the EBT system.
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