I am aware and the damage they can do is legit, but people seem to automatically assume everyone lives in such place and i have been burned before.

As far as i am aware the concept of the family cat being a wild/stray that decides to just live at your house is an ancient dynamic here.

I once found a cat in need and took it to a vet where they found it had a chip. Returned it to the official owner, they already considered it the neighbors cat more than theirs and those neighbors hadn’t seen it for 3 months. They assumed it found some better place like rich lonely elders.