How should I treat a beggar?

This is a question which has given me trouble for quite sometime. This might sound like a trivial issue but when I'm confronted with the situation normally two competing views come to my mind. One is that the beggar might really be in need and so I should give him some money (how much is a function of local (in time) generosity, money available - believe me there are times when I have less than the beggar himself i.e., zero, and so many other factors). The other conflicting view presented by the ever logical not-so-generous people is that I'm encouraging begging by giving money to them. If we try analyzing the situation a bit more we find that there are many more possible actions other than the ones mentioned above. For eg,
a.I could buy him food so that he doesn't go and misuse the money for something like drinking or even lose it to someone stronger.
b. I could give him some employment so that he can lead a more dignified life.
c. I could try finding out what made him choose begging and try to look for a solution.
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z. I could just shoo him away saying I can't help you!.
I don't intend to get into the question of whether a beggar leads a dignified life or not. For now we'll go with the common view that a beggar's profession is not dignified. Here let's try analyzing the possibilities other than giving money to the beggar. Options other than the last one are no doubt better than giving money to the beggar but, the question is, how many of us really do that? When people say I'm encouraging begging by giving money to the beggar, which is not a good thing, I agree with them, but what makes one choose the last option of doing nothing. Now a natural question that arises is, what is my obligation towards the beggar to make me choose anything other than the last option. The answer is simple - the beggar doesn't say "give me money!" at least the ones I have seen say "I'm hungry please give me money, or my mother is about to die and I need money to save her life so please give me money, or me and my small sister have not had food for two days so please give us money, or I'm handicapped and can't earn so please give me money etc". Now when I say beggar says something he needn't open his mouth and utter it. If a fool is waiting for that then this blog is not him. I'm probably being too harsh but what I mean here is that when a handicapped beggar comes to me its implied that he says I can't work so please give me money.
I don't know how true any of the statements a beggar makes is but the question is what if that is indeed true. It is this "what if" which troubles anyone with a heart. To know the answer I need to investigate. Most of the times I neither have the time nor the patience to do so which, I believe, is the case with most of the people other than the ones who do social service. Strictly speaking I should take the pain to find out and that is what is the "perfect thing to do". But here I'm looking into what if I choose not do the perfect thing. What is the next best? The answer that comes to me is - definitely not shooing him away because when I do that what I'm essentially telling the beggar is - "I don't give a damn about your mother dying, your sister being hungry or even you starving to death, I don't care just buzz off!". Let's face it! This is what we mean since we haven't taken the effort to find out. When I choose not to find out about his condition how can I say that he's trying to fool me?. Let's say that the beggar is really saying the truth, that his mother is really about to die and he doesn't have money to save her. Me giving whatever small amount I give, could save someone.
How can people be so cruel? Without even finding out what the real situation is how can they say I can't give money. Now again people argue saying they have actually seen many cases where the beggar is cheating them. Even if I have seen a million such cases how can I be sure about the one in front of me? Did I find out? If not how can I not help him? Isn't that completely inhuman? I'm not giving him all of my property. What I give him is probably not even a a thousandth of what I earn in a month. What do I loose? Now the other idiot says that if I give money to one then many will ask. So what? Let's say even if I give to ten beggars I don't loose much. So what is the problem? The problem is not with the situation it is with character and a little ability to think. May be people don't think, but once they are exposed to this argument and then if they shy away from giving anything then, I think, they are heartless. They seriously don't care about someone dying. Only when they'll face such a situation where they'll have to beg for money to save some of their near and dear one's will they realize this. May be that day they will also beg, not by going into streets but, by forwarding emails.