I’ve been surprised at how often I’ve been asked for money as an “advance” - most recently two weeks ago by someone I’ve met only two times before - he threw me a curve ball because we were supposed to meet and three hours before our meeting, he contacts me to CANCEL and at the same time ask for an advance on our next meeting.
As a general rule, I simply say “I don’t do that.”
I also find it effective at all meetings to let them know I only operate using cash. I don’t Venmo. I don’t PayPal. I don’t Zelle. None of that. To ever receive money from me for any reason, you need to be standing in front of me to hand it to you.