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Imagine moving into an apartment and taking your dog for a walk. What would you do if a neighbor kid came up to you and asked you for money? Would you give him some change, say no, or would you start seeing red flags?

In this story, one college student is in this situation. He was loving life in this apartment complex until a kid started asking him for money. It wasn’t just the one time either. It was over and over and over again and with different excuses, some of which were clearly lies.

Now, the student isn’t sure what to think. He’s frustrated by the kid’s requests for money, but he’s also wondering if he should be concerned about the kid.

Let’s read the whole story.

A kid in my apartment complex keeps making up weird reasons to ask me for money—what do I even do about this?

So I moved into a new apartment earlier this year.

It’s been a great change—way calmer than the student housing I was in before (graduating this May, thank god).

No more drunk undergrads screaming off balconies at 2am. Just me and my dog enjoying the quiet.

Then a kid in the neighborhood came up to him.

Early on, during a walk around the complex, this kid came up to us. Seemed friendly. Told me he was trying to make some money and asked if he could walk my dog.

I declined—my dog’s not great with strangers—but I appreciated the initiative.

A few days later, I’m out walking again and the same kid finds me. This time he asks for a few bucks to use the vending machine.

I didn’t have any cash on me, so I just said sorry and kept walking.

This is getting weird.

Then one weekend, there’s a knock at my door. It’s him. Kind of weird he figured out where I lived. He asks again for vending machine money, and I give him a couple bucks just to be nice.

Not even five minutes later, he knocks again. Says the vending machine “ate” the money and asks for more.

I ask why he thinks putting more money into a broken machine is a good idea, and I tell him to call the office and let them know.

He shrugs and says the office told him it worked.

The whole thing felt off, so I politely told him I couldn’t help him anymore.

He thought the kid finally understood.

But he kept coming back.

Every week or so, he’d knock again and ask if I had any work around the house he could do for money.

I live in a small apartment. I don’t have “odd jobs.”

Eventually I told him, “Look, I’ll flag you down if I ever need anything, but please don’t come knocking anymore—my dog goes ballistic when someone’s at the door.” That seemed to finally stop the visits.

But the kid is still asking him for money.

Until recently.

Now he’s back to approaching me outside while I’m walking my dog.

The vending machine story’s gone. Now it’s stuff like “I’m raising money to get my sister a gym membership” or “I need $10 for a phone screen protector.”

Something’s very off here.

This kid isn’t a very good liar.

Then tonight, he walks up to me and instead of asking for money, he asks if I have a mobile hotspot he can use.

I tell him I don’t (I do, but no way am I handing out my data to a random kid).

I ask if he has WiFi at home, and he says yeah, but he’s at a friend’s house and can’t connect to their network.

Except… he’s clearly not at his friend’s house. He’s at the park talking to me while my dog sniffs a bush.

He’s really wondering what is going on with this kid.

I have no idea what this kid’s endgame is.

Is he being malicious? Just bored and trying to mess with adults? Is something going on at home and this is how he seeks attention?

I don’t want to report him to management just because I’m mildly annoyed—but I’d consider it if this behavior seems like a bigger red flag.

Would love some perspective. Is this just a quirky kid being weird? Or do you guys think concerning?

This kid is clearly lying about why he needs the money or a hotspot, but why? That’s the real question. Why?

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

Seems like it.

Maybe the kid knocked on every door.

Here’s a suggestion.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a barn owner who wants to evict a tenant who promised to build stalls but never did.

One person has a theory.

It doesn’t seem like anyone sees any red flags. The kid just knows how to hustle.

OP needs to set a clear boundary, explain that he’s a broke college student and doesn’t have any money to spare. Maybe the kid will back off if he knows the answer will always be no.