A warning has gone out to people not to waste their seasonal goodwill on a conwoman operating in the area.
Victim Wendy Thomson was taken in by the professional-looking woman outside Reading railway station but has now started a Facebook group to prevent others falling foul of the scam artist.
Several other people have posted their encounters with what appears to be the same woman operating around the town.
Ms Thomson believes it is the same swindler the Reading Post reported on back in November 2011.
The 36-year-old encountered the woman outside Reading station after a night out in London but it was only later she connected her to a similar incident in Emmer Green two years before.
She said: ^Her opening line was, ^Excuse me, have you seen any keys on your travels?^, then she says she^s lost her car keys and that she hasn^t brought her purse with her.
^She says she works in Reading and has to get to Swindon and she asks for ^20.^
Ms Thomson, of Emmer Green, continued: ^She^s very well spoken and well dressed. She does look like a professional who is having a bad time.
^I asked her lots of questions and she says she has tried everyone and still she needs help.
^She offers to take your address to pay you back.^
The woman convinced Ms Thomson to hand over ^7 and it was only when she got home she remembered seeing the woman before in Emmer Green spinning a similar story.
Ms Thomson started the Facebook group ^Female con artist/scam in Reading^ to try to stop the woman by sharing information and it now has 274 members, with some sharing similar experiences.
James Porter posted last Thursday that his girlfriend and he had been approached by a woman in The Oracle car park with the same story and had handed over ^20.
Simon Bell said he had a similar experience with the same woman at the M4 Reading Services where she was asking for money to buy fuel for her car.
He refused and later saw her eating a burger in the Calcot retail park and driving off in a red Ford Focus.
Ms Thomson also believes it was the same woman that scammed a couple in the Royal Berkshire Hospital car park in October, as reported in the Reading Post.
British Transport Police have posted signs in Reading station warning people to beware of people pretending their car has broken down or that they have run out of petrol.
Sergeant Rob Pile said: ^There was an incident where there was a lady begging and it appeared similar to incidents a couple of years ago.
^It^s something we don^t want to continue and if anyone is approached at the station they should alert a member of station staff.^
Back in November 2011, the Post reported on two elderly women who were tricked into handing over money to a woman in the Waitrose car park in Caversham.
Another couple then came forward saying they handed over ^20 to a woman who said her car had run out of petrol at the Meadway Precinct in Tilehurst.
Ms Thomson described the woman as a brunette, with hair tied back, slim, about 5ft 6in tall and in her 30s.
Victims of the scam should call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or via the website
www.actionfraud.police.uk.
