In this age of identity theft and hacking contests, of course, there is little to prevent someone from inventing a moving story and publishing it online. It is hard to know if any of the 200-plus sites listed by Cyberbeg.com are fake, but e-panhandlers are often willing to go far to prove their sincerity.

Web's Tin Cups Find Soft Touches Aplenty
Ever since Karyn Bosnak, a television producer with an unquenchable desire for fancy footwear, started a Web site last June to solicit donations to pay off her credit card debt, such "e-panhandling" sites have grown like compounded interest on a Visa balance. Michel Huang of Cerritos, Calif., has used her site to collect more than $3,300 to pay for breast augmentation surgery.

Like Ms. Bosnak's creation, www.savekaryn.com, these sites offer long and sometimes well-written accounts of their owners' plights: tales of marital difficulties, tuition expenses, medical problems, the trials of being a single parent or, in Ms. Huang's case, being smaller-breasted. Contributions are usually sent through eBay's PayPal service, other electronic payment methods or regular mail. In addition to their life stories, cyber-beggars often publish updates on their funds' progress as well as personal diaries.

To some extent, the sites have drawn traffic through networking, with one referring potential donors to others. Ms. Smith of savekimberly.com said she had advertised her site by joining Web rings, groups of similar sites that link to one another. Since Ms. Bosnak eliminated her debt last November, she now uses her site to promote other cyber-beggars, and many compete to become beneficiaries of her fame and site traffic. The category has also grown to such proportions that it is now indexed: the CyberBeg .com directory links to more than 200 e-panhandling Web sites, and Yahoo and Google offer smaller lists.

In this age of identity theft and hacking contests, of course, there is little to prevent someone from inventing a moving story and publishing it online. It is hard to know if any of the 200-plus sites listed by Cyberbeg.com are fake, but e-panhandlers are often willing to go far to prove their sincerity. Penny Hawkins, whose Internet site, www.helpmeleavemyhusband.com, has collected more than $2,000 to pay for her nursing education and divorce, published her school report card as evidence of her legitimacy. Ms. Huang provides photos of what she considers her imperfect chest. In some cases, cyber-beggars offer proof by having donors send money directly to their creditors.

Ms. Mullin said she was convinced by Ms. Smith's site because Ms. Smith included unobscured photographs of herself (many cyber-panhandlers do not show their faces at their sites) and because it was easy to find Ms. Smith's address and telephone number. She also relied on her urban survival instincts: "I think I used a cyber-version of the instant judging that New Yorkers put into play every time they see a panhandler on the subway," she said.


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/13/technology/circuits/13begg.html?pagewanted=all&position=top