That is the Roma Gypsies who operate like that.
Roma Gypsies are professional beggers, everyday outside the place i worked in a white minibus with tinted windows would pull up, the driver would shout to an old lady in the back of the minibus, she would get out and walk over to a bench beside the bank.
She would sit on the bench with a copy of the big issue magazine and a piece of paper with something written in English on it.
As people walked by she would show them the piece of paper with her spiel on it, she obviously could not speak English.
She would sit there on the bench in all weathers, to be honest i used to feel sorry for her.
The local coffee shop used to give her a free coffee and a doughnut about 10 am.
I used to wonder why she carried the big issue magazine, i was told that the magazine was a prop, her gangmaster had her registered as a self employed trader, this meant she was entitled to tax credits and housing benefits, most of this money was syphoned off by the gangmaster and sent back to Romania.
The old girl herself probably got very little out of this scam apart from a free coffee and a doughnut.