Just hours after being set up a Crowd Funder page for pensioner Alexteen Roberts had reached £603, more than two times the amount taken from her.
She was followed on her way back from a prayer meeting when she was pushed to the ground, punched in the ribs and then had her handbag, with £300 inside, stolen.
Mrs Roberts is a Seventh-day Adventist and had been at her church on Holloway Road, Islington, north London.
The suspect pretended he was a council worker, saying he was there to fix her electrics before the assault in Tottenham on August 23rd.
She said: "I'm a bit shaky. When I'm coming in the house now I'm afraid because of this wicked man."
A page aimed at raising the £300 stolen was set up as news of the attack spread through the community.
"It would be wonderful if we could all come together as a community and raise enough to replace the amount which was so cruelly stolen from her," the page says.
By Monday lunchtime it had raised £603 with 83 people donating.