I see this in Thailand all the time. I actually picked up a German hitchhiker that was doing this. He came to India and then Thailand with virtually no money and was just doing odd jobs and selling stuff on the street to get by. While I would never do this myself, I do in some sense respect the people that can do something like this. They have no fear and an insane trust in humanity and "the good".
The newer and more popular thing is cyberbegging, it's happening on a massive scale. I was looking at this guy on Youtube from Switzerland (SwissHumanity) who kept making videos about coming to live in the Philippines and babbling about humanity and saving the world - complete nonsense. It was clear his only plan was to beg for money online, no other source of income. I expect him to be homeless at one point and the nasty part is - it will backfire on all the white tourists/migrants in the region as the requirements for travel will become more stringent. The modern backpackers are scum, the ones in Thailand have such an attitude about them, you'd think they've won the Nobel prize. Asian countries need to become more strict as begging is illegal in all of these countries I believe - arrest and deport, it's best for everyone.
Ye I am not a fan of the backpacking culture. Bunch of lost souls wondering around thinking they are woke and are looking for spiritual awakening. Really they are just wondering around the same shitty tourist traps and the same crap hostels as all the other backpackers that came before them. All drink way too much. Once you speak to 2-3 backpackers and you basically met all of them as they are all the same. They think they are cool because they don't do package vacations or all inclusive resorts but what they are doing is not much better.
It's hilarious how they all dress the same, all go around with the huge backpacks, almost all to the same destinations yet believe they are doing something meaningful and original. Seeing a smelly backpacker with a gigantic backpack in Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok, they look downright stupid - you don't need much of anything with you, you can buy anything affordably almost anywhere.
If you don't have money to travel, you don't travel. Expecting the locals to pick up your slack just because you want to have fun is unacceptable.
That's the culture of today's young. You can have anything you want that you can get somebody else to pay for.
I figured someone would say that. That's completely untrue. I'm the same age and a few of them are older. It has little to do with age, previously people like this didn't consider leaving their countries but now travel is commonplace, so you see this as a result. They aren't wrong entirely. Plenty of idiots pay money for nothing these days. Since there are people willing to pay, they will keep begging.