For giving/receiving among people other than me, my family, my friends or
anyone I am close with (外->外), the book says to use あげる. もらう can also be used
for anyone->anyone. Is it wrong to use くれる for 外->外?

To be precise, if A and B are in 外(soto), A->B,

We can say AがBにCをあげました。 BがAにCをもらいました。

But is it wrong to say? AがBにCをくれました。

If I see this sentence, can I assume that B is in 内 of the speaker?
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question
word-choice usage word-usage giving-and-receiving
Use of くれる among 外
Apart from this special
[usage](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/6405/43676), you can safely
assume くれる is exclusively used when the recipient is someone the speaker
considers to be in their in-group.

That’s when it is used as a standalone verb. It is not always the case when it
is used as a helper verb in the `[V て-form]-くれる` construction, in which case
the speaker feels benefited by the action of the verb regardless of who the
recipient of that action may be.

If you feel benefited from someone giving some object to someone you don’t
consider to be in your in-group, you can say あげてくれる. In the first of the two
sentences below, the cat is most certainly yours. In the second, it could be a
stray cat you couldn’t stand watching starving.

> 知らない人が猫に餌をくれた。
>
> 知らない人が猫に餌をあげてくれた。

(Some might say this use of あげる is incorrect and it should be やる, but it is
not uncommon.)
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answer