A woman was left gobsmacked when a beggar asking for spare change pulled out his Eftpos machine to take the donation.
Sharnelle Vella was approached by the man in need, who asked her for a dollar, as she tucked into her breakfast at Hella Cakes cafe in Melbourne.
But when she told him that she didn’t have any cash, she claims the savvy beggar smirked and pulled out his very own credit card machine, telling her he could “take it on card”.
Sharnelle, a journalist for Seven News, said she was “shocked and freaked out” and refused to hand over her card out of fear that it was a scam to “skim her card”.
She told 3AW: “He pulled out an eftpos machine and said ‘I can take it on card too’.
“At that point I died at my table.
Seen in Melbourne. A man just approached me while having breakfast at a cafe and asked for $1. When I said I had no cash — HE RIPPED OUT AN EFTPOS MACHINE AND SAID HE TAKES CARD. #ihavedied 😱💳
— Sharnelle Vella (@SharnelleVella) May 26, 2018
“I said ‘Oh, nah, I’m OK’ and he went on to the next table.
“The screen was lit up so it was definitely on.”
The trend seems to be far more common across the Atlantic, with several cases reported in the UK including that of notorious ‘Mayfair beggar’ Damien Preston-Booth in 2015.
Preston-Booth made headlines after he was pictured accepting credit card donations from celebrities, including Simon Cowell and Sarah Ferguson, on his own chip and pin machine outside a popular London haunt.
The beggar, from Lancashire, UK, was later accused of “taking everyone for a ride” by a friend after allegedly claiming state benefits while making thousands on the streets.
It was also recently revealed that buskers and street performers in London will now accept credit card payments, rather than the old-fashioned method of collecting coins in a hat, as part of a scheme launched by Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Full-time busker Charlotte Campbell said: “If street performers like myself don’t adapt to the cashless society we are edging towards, we’re at risk of becoming a dying art.
“It’s has already had a significant impact on the contributions I’ve received.”
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