No one is going to give you anything - if they try to it's a scam and get away.

Also anyone asking for help - or offering help - isn't - again, get away.>>

I don't want to criticise NYT for his/her caution but I can't count the number of times that I have been helped by people I've come across abroad, from picking up things I've dropped to helping me find where I am on a map. In my turn I've offered help to others and usually find it is accepted.

of course it does mean that you have to decide who to trust if you don't have an immutable rule to reject all approaches, but it does make travel more fun.

[PS - the kind people offering to help you with the ticket machines in italian railway stations are definitely in the "don't trust" category].

Yes that is a conundrum - me too been helped by plenty of well-meaning friendly locals so so many times. I guess you have to take into consideration what kind of help is being offered - like when none is needed (buying metro tickets from machines) or folks thrusting petitions in your face, etc.

Yup hard to tell and we don't want to be rude and act like someone genuinely being helpful is a crook wanting to rob us.