I learned from a church that the person in charge of the benevolence fund was the most coldhearted person they had. He could see through a scam in a second. He was able to propose creative ways of getting the person help in exchange for some labor, which they usually refused; do some janitorial work, kitchen work, wash a car, things like that. That weeded out the scammers.

Now, that is not to say that those who received help had to do labor. It was just a tactic that he was able to successfully use when needed.

In fact, those who received the help were often given access to some basic financial counseling, job leads, and other such services to help them return to self-sufficiency.