Those wanting to be good samaritans would decline if they knew they were simply fattening someone’s portfolio and of course most panhandlers are truly homeless and in need of assistance. Yet the desire not to be taken advantage of is strong in most people and presents a genuine moral conflict for many. What advice can Creator give to those wanting to help the truly needy? When one gives to a beggar, does the REAL condition of the recipient have any bearing on the good karma earned by the donor?

We see the act of loving kindness as a separate issue from the plight of the panhandler. If the interchange is entirely based on a false premise, for example, the panhandler misrepresenting themselves as needy and essentially perpetrating a con game to get free money, that does not take away from the act of generosity freely done by a person of good character who harbors a loving compassion for those less fortunate. So there will be a karmic blessing for the intention to commit the act of loving kindness. The consequences for the dishonest panhandler who is truly a manipulator and takes the easy way out to avoid making an honest living, that person will only incur a karmic penalty from their exploitation of those innocent souls willing to give money spontaneously out of the goodness of their heart. So this interchange will have differing consequences for the participants based on the karmic merit of their actions. So the perpetrator here, the dishonest panhandler who misrepresents their true state of being, does not benefit because they have, through their begging, created a karmic benefit for their donors and inspire them to acts of loving kindness. They will not receive any positive karma because what will be looked at is solely their own energy and the intentions behind it. Any possible good that comes stems from the actions of the other people whose lives they touch and is not in the intention of the panhandler to begin with who is ignorant of the workings of karma.