Beggars in Iceland

I was talking to someone about homelessness recently (upbeat, huh?) and mentioned that when I was in Reykjavik last year, I saw a young Caucasian girl of what looked like 14 or so kneeling on the pavement with a cardboard note and a hat, asking for coins. It really struck me as she looked a bit like my daughter. I didn’t have any currency or I’d have given her something. My friend said there was a good chance it was a scammer of some kind anyway. Is begging quite common in rvk? It was in 101 by the mega expensive supermarket with green branding.