con artists

I was at the grocery store the other day and saw something which disappointed me; con artists. There are people I see regularly at a few exits around town, standing with signs saying that they need money for a bus ticket, or to fix their car. Every time I see people like that, I wonder whether they really need help. It has always seemed to me that they could really need help, but since they're there often, it's not very likely. At the grocery store, I saw two of them meeting up, ditching their gear in a car, and going off somewhere, I assume to get some food or something. I was so disappointed by this, even though I can't be positive about them.

Today when I was driving to my new home, I saw one of the people with the signs standing at the exit when I came to a stop. She gave such a sad face, it made me disgusted, because I could only assume that she was acting. I thought that maybe I should ask her if she needed something that I could provide materially rather than giving her money, or asking her if she would want to come to my friends' house so that we could maybe feed her and see if she needed to be put up for a few days and see if we could find a way for her to get where she needed to go (if she really needed to go somewhere). All this happened in a few moments, and then I passed her by. I felt a little guilty about it, but I think I'll try to reach all those people later (will there be a later?).