AU PAIR/NANNY scam - Steven Syring

Steven Syring <[email protected]>

Hi There! We are anxiously looking for the perfect au pair to take care of our 2 wonderful girls, Clara and Macy, ages 4 years 8 months and 2 years 2 months old respectively. Jane is currently sick, battling with a diseased and inflamed throat region problem.She will be going for a surgical operation in about 3weeks time. We are seeking a warm, energetic, and responsible au pair to assist us in taking care of the girls while she will be away for her treatment and also after she returns from her treatment. A friend of the family who felt concerned and has already found a reliable aupair/nanny on the aupair website gave us your contact details. We are a small family consisting of father, mother and 2 girls.I am Steven,36, the father of the house, Finnish by birth but I also have a British nationality. My wife is Jane by name, age 33 and of British descent. We are both working professionals. I am self employed as an IT consultant.Jane works with a local marketing company here in London.

Our older daughter attends a primary school while the younger girl is enrolled in a pre-school. They both attend the same school. The school resumes by 09.00am and closes by 3pm Mondays to fridays.Your duties involves getting them up and dressed for school, dropping them off in the morning, and also picking them after school in the afternoon. Your working hours is 6 hours daily weekdays while you are Saturdays and Sundays as your free days. Your monthly salary is 2000 pounds and your weekly pocket money is 250 pounds. Your duties involves also dinner preparation, homework and getting them ready for bed at the end the day! We eat healthy, lead active, fun lives and need someone who has a positive outlook on life. We need help with organizing and keeping the children's clothes, room and equipment in order. Must have a passion for children and earnestly want them to be your first priority. Homework and school projects are important and must be able to assist in this area also.Their school is within walking distance and on the same street as our house. Light housekeeping, laundry and grocery shopping during the day is also required.Other facilities within walking distance include a couple of playgrounds and a recreation center with indoor/outdoor swimming pools, tennis and basketball courts, and a gymnasium. There is a college nearby that offers all kind of classes, ranging from Yoga to Architecture, and everything in between. There are other school and facilities located nearby also.

We are an easy going, kind, and loving family and would love the opportunity to speak with you further concerning the position. Attached are a few of our family photos for your viewing pleasure. Thanks!

Home Address
174 Cromwell Road,
Kensington,
London, SW7 4DN
United Kingdom
+44 203 239 3472

hi, may I ask how do you know that this is scam? Please reply. Thanks

Hi Dita, thank you for posting the details of this scammer.

Aha, there are many signs of a scam that those who see them often enough can pick up with a quick glance.

I will not go into why to signs right now, I am reluctant to educate any scammers who may visit and see this thread.

Are you in contact with this person? if so could you please post some of the emails you received and we may be better able to help you

Dita,

Good job on identifying another scam.

ah4,
Welcome to scamwarners!


Dita was definitely right to call this a scam. Even without further research, I can tell you that the person who wrote this letter is not from UK--the phrasing and mistakes in the letter place this person out of the UK, and some of the specific phrases place the writer squarely in Africa, where the nanny scams generally originate.

Scammers love to copy and paste scripts.

Look at the text in this US nanny ad: http://nanny-world.com/aupair-jobs/NJ-Califon/family1056692.htm

Dinner preparation, homework and getting ready for bed end our day! We eat healthy, lead active, fun lives and need someone who has a positive outlook on life. I need help with organizing schedules, errands and keeping children's clothes, rooms and equipment in order. Must have a passion for children and earnestly want them to be your first priority. Homework and school projects are important and must be able to assist in this area also.

Now compare it to the email Dita posted:

dinner preparation, homework and getting them ready for bed at the end the day! We eat healthy, lead active, fun lives and need someone who has a positive outlook on life. We need help with organizing and keeping the children's clothes, room and equipment in order. Must have a passion for children and earnestly want them to be your first priority. Homework and school projects are important and must be able to assist in this area also

.

Hello! I am a Spanish girl who almost falls into the trap of this undesirable.
Thanks to you I could learn the truth about "Steven Syring"
Here I leave more messages you sent me in order that you check if it is a complete sham:
To make it more believable connects you with an immigration consultant call: horizontal migration (the strange thing is that there is a website of this network with the same email)

Thak you very much!
First of all, thank you for your interest!Its a great pleasure to read back from you and we look forward to also having you as a member of the house. A brief introduction of my family: We are a fun, easy-going, young family that enjoys traveling, movies, sports, going to the beach, amusement parks, etc. and would like an Au Pair who is similar to us. Our family loves the outdoors, and hope you do also. We are looking for someone who can expose our children to different culture and language. We live in a lively, safe neighborhood and have a pool to enjoy in the summer. Spring sports include softball and fall sports include soccer; karate is year round! We need someone to be a team player with us and we are a great communicator, so we can help each other. You must take this job seriously, and understand that you are impacting our children's lives. You must interact with the children on all levels, and be comfortable with homework (very important), preparing (healthy meals) and hanging out at sporting games. Mon-Fri we need your help from 7.00-9.30 AM, then you are free until 3.00 PM, time to pick up the girls from school. The kids have dinner around 7.30PM and they go to bed at 8.45 PM. Although some flexibility is useful. Your working hours is 6 hours daily weekdays while you are Saturdays and Sundays as your free days. We honour your free time and try to be flexible with schedules when we can be. We'd love you to be a part of our family, this is very important to us. We hope to make your experience as an au pair an enriching one and look forward to finding someone not to just take care of the girls but to be a part of our family In our home, you will have your own private full size bedroom with bath. Your room will be equipped with internet, TV/DVD. You do not need to have a driver’s license, although it would be beneficial.Also we would like to know your earliest date of arrival and for how long you will like to be with us.

Also, I have attached a few but important questions for you and you should try as much as possible to provide genuine answers because it will go a long way. Also you will have to sign a contract agreement with us so as to validate this job offer. The contract agreement will spell out the terms and conditions of the contract so that both parties will be acquainted to their duties and responsibilities. The contract will be managed by a qualified qualified law and immigration agency which will act as the mediator so that there will be no partiality and they will ensure that the terms and conditions stipulated in the contract are strictly adhered to. I just want to know if you are ready to sign the contract or not. A quick response from you will be appreciated.

Welcome Ariari,

I'm sorry to say, this too is a definite scam.

Are you sure that it's a scam?
I answered it. so what do I have to do now?
But I don't think It's a scam.. I asked for job on a certain period and they answered me.. I don't know now.

Welcome, Lily

To be absolutely blunt - - -IT IS A SCAM!

The English, although better than that usually written, is not indicative of a true English speaking person - there are too many inconsistencies in the grammar etc.

It would be helpful if you could post their email response to you, with the headers - that way we will be able to prove it more conclusively.

so what do I have to do now?

Do NOT send them any information about yourself (current address, phone number etc) - certainly, do NOT send them any identification (passport etc - even though they try to tell you it is needed for a visa or whatever).

Best advice is to not reply to them or anyone pretending to be a "qualified law and immigration agency"

As CD stated, there is absolutely no doubt that this is a scam. The English gives it away (and the scammer's math skills are no better if you look at the information on hours). The email is a combination of cut-and-paste (better English) and the scammer's own writing (poor English).

The contract will be managed by a qualified qualified law and immigration agency which will act as the mediator

This agency is fake, and is either the scammer himself or someone working with him. You will be told that you need to pay fees to this "agency," either related to the contract, a guarantee, or your visa/paperwork. You will most likely be told to send this money via Western Union or Moneygram (on occasion you will be told to transfer it directly to a bank account, but this is much less common). After you send money, if he thinks he can get you to send more money, he will require more fees from you. In the end, the scammer will simply disappear, along with your money.

first of all, thank you very much. I will never send money. But do you think I should ask him something about scams? Just to be sure
He answered to me with this:

Hello
Thanks for taking your time in answering the questions, my family is satisfied with the answers. I have discussed your coming over with the legal services company here in the UK, Horizon Migration and Consultancy Services(HMCS), they will be managing the contract for the duration it will last.Horizon Migration and Consultancy Services is a law firm and they will be overseeing the contract between you and me for the duration it will last. You should contact them at [email protected] for more information about the contract and the company. They are expecting your mail. Thanks

Welcome, Lily

To be absolutely blunt - - -IT IS A SCAM!

The English, although better than that usually written, is not indicative of a true English speaking person - there are too many inconsistencies in the grammar etc.

It would be helpful if you could post their email response to you, with the headers - that way we will be able to prove it more conclusively.

so what do I have to do now?

Do NOT send them any information about yourself (current address, phone number etc) - certainly, do NOT send them any identification (passport etc - even though they try to tell you it is needed for a visa or whatever).

Best advice is to not reply to them or anyone pretending to be a "qualified law and immigration agency"

There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that this is a scammer. One reason these people succeed is they target people who speak English as a second language. Someone from the US or UK would recognize that the English isn't right. Anyone who deals with African scammers on a daily basis can tell you that the mistakes in the email you posted are typical of an African.

We never recommend telling scammers that you know they are scammers, asking them if they are scammers (they will only lie more anyway), or pointing out their mistakes. When you do that, you teach a scammer what he did wrong, and you are only helping him to be more believable the next time. Just ignore him completely, or send a reply saying you are no longer interested.

As expected, you have a typical fake company there. Email addresses ending with consultant.com are free email addresses, just like any yahoo or hotmail address. A real law firm specializing in immigration would have a website and associated email addresses. They absolutely would not be using a free email address.

do you think that I can try to call him? There is a telephone number.

There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that this is a scammer. One reason these people succeed is they target people who speak English as a second language. Someone from the US or UK would recognize that the English isn't right. Anyone who deals with African scammers on a daily basis can tell you that the mistakes in the email you posted are typical of an African.

We never recommend telling scammers that you know they are scammers, asking them if they are scammers (they will only lie more anyway), or pointing out their mistakes. When you do that, you teach a scammer what he did wrong, and you are only helping him to be more believable the next time. Just ignore him completely, or send a reply saying you are no longer interested.

As expected, you have a typical fake company there. Email addresses ending with consultant.com are free email addresses, just like any yahoo or hotmail address. A real law firm specializing in immigration would have a website and associated email addresses. They absolutely would not be using a free email address.

It sounds like you really want to believe him. I can understand hoping that this is real, but it is not. He is an African scammer! Calling him will not change that. If you reach him by phone, you will simply be told many more lies. I will reiterate...what you should do is drop these people--do not call them, do not email them!

I don't usually recommend this, but if you absolutely cannot just drop him, then email the "travel company" about the contract. When they tell you that you have to pay money (which will happen fairly quickly), you will know that they are doing exactly what we told you they would do. WHEN LOOKING FOR A JOB, NEVER SEND MONEY OR GIVE BANK ACCOUNT INFO TO ANY PERSON YOU HAVEN'T MET OR ANY "COMPANY" YOU HAVEN'T VISITED.

That's a very nice home address he's given you Lily

Home Address
174 Cromwell Road,
Kensington,
London, SW7 4DN
United Kingdom

Isn't it strange that he didn't mention that it's actually a hospital, and remember, he isn't a doctor.

http://www.cromwellhospital.com/home/co ... ation.aspx

Bupa Cromwell Hospital
162-174 Cromwell Road
London SW5 0TU
United Kingdom

You could try asking him about the bus services you would have to use and if he knows what the congestion charge is, he might even be living somewhere in the UK, but he certainly doesnt live at that address.

If you are driving
The hospital is situated just inside the London Congestion Charge Zone, at the junction of the A4, Cromwell Road and Marloes Road. Hours of operation of the Congestion Charge are Monday to Friday 7:00am - 6:00pm (excluding public holidays). Short term parking around the hospital is available in the immediate vicinity on parking meters.

If you are walking or coming by public transport
Earls Court, Gloucester Road and High Street Kensington underground stations are all within walking distance. Cromwell Road is served by bus route number 74 and the A1 bus (Victoria Station to Heathrow).

This what the front of his house looks like as I'm sure he's never seen it



It's amazing what you can find out about a UK property using Google.

amazing . Thank you