Au pair - London

Hi,
I'm polish student and few months ago I registered on the website for the au-pairs who are looking for job and for families who need a babysitter. On Friday I got an e-mail from someone who introduced himself as Robert Carrick. Everything looked perfect in his message- high salary ( 500 pounds per week), good conditions. Two days ago I received a Contract Letter from him, which I was supposed to sign and send to Home Office ( he gave me their e-mail address). I studied this letter and few points took my attention e.g during our conversation he mentioned not only babysitting but also helping at home - in the contract in the section devoted to duties there was no information about it. There was also a part discussing documents that I should fill in. It was written in the way I couldn't understand so I went to Home Office web-site to look for more information, but what I found was that I don't need any of documents that he mentioned. Also the e-mail that he gave and that was supposed to be Home Office's wasn't the same as this which I found on their website. I put "Robert Carrick" into google ( he said that he is Executive Chef at CLARIDGE'S Hotel Group) to find any confirmation for it but I didn't. Then I put [email protected] - according to him Home Office's and I found this forum. The telephone numbers that he gave me ( +447930234587 and +4470318411932) also fitted. Another warning signs were: I offered that we can talk on skype - he said that he doesn't have time right now. I asked about pictures of family, he ignored this request as well. I gave this contract letter to one British friend and he told me that considering the grammar and vocabulary almost for 100% it wasn't written by Englishman.
Luckily I didn't give him much information. The all costs I bore are disappointed hopes and a lot of stress.
I hope I will help other people by posting this story.
Julia

Hi Juiliaa and welcome to ScamWarners! I'm really glad that you recognized this as being a scam, and I hope that you're able to find work as an Au Pair somewhere. Would you be able to post the first few emails that you received from Robert Carrick? They will likely be scripts that he sends to many different people, so by posting them you might be able to save others from falling for his scam. Please include the headers of the email, but edit out any personal information of yours. If you don't know how to find the headers, just ask.

Dear Juliaa

Thank you for posting this online because I recieved the exact same e-mail you did. I was nearly sucked into a scam once before and it does really hurt to realize someone is trying to use you. Thank you so much for posting this and giving me the resource to see if this is real or not. As a young Canadian girl, I thank you very very very much from preventing me from getting sucked into yet another scam! I had your same worries when I read his e-mail, like how he avoided having skype phone calls and such and atleast we're smart enough to spot concerns right away. I really do hope you find a great family and treats you with respect and dignity that clearly neither one of us was recieving from this scum.

Good luck in the future!
Emmaa

Hi Emma,
I'm so glad that you are safe. Please come back any time you get a suspicious email.

Just in case Julia can't post the text of the emails she got, can you please post them? It might help another victim.
Thank you!

First of all, I'd rename the topic with this guy's name, to make it easier and more accessible!
Because, I just went surfing the web looking for information about this weird Mr Carrick; I would go on telling my version of it, by posting his letter as well:

Subject: Your profile was shortlisted from http://www.aupair4you.eu

Dear Au Pair,

We are looking for someone loving and energetic to look after our lovely 3 Years old baby boy Brian. Ideally the person would start as soon as possible, although we are prepared to wait for the right person.

You will be required to look after him along during the day (Monday to Friday) whilst I am at work, with additional babysitting once or twice a week in the evenings or at the weekends.

My wife is currently 2 months pregnant with our second child so as much help and assistance around the house would be excellent.

The most important thing is that you must love kids, and be happy to help out around the house. We would like you to enjoy spending time with Brian, and take very good care of him. He is a very happy, friendly, cute boy, who really likes to be taken out of the house to playgroups, swimming in our pool, going to the swings or beach, meeting friends, etc. He will grow to love you very much. Ideally we would like you to become like one of our family.

In return we can offer you a very competitive weekly wage(500GBP) for a live-in position (in our 5 bedroom detached villa,London, UK) You will have your own double bedroom with en-suite, television, DVD player, WiFi internet access and radio. We can also give you access to our car if necessary. Travel costs will be covered by us.

Alternatively, we are happy to offer the right person a a live-out position. If this was the case you must be available to work between 7.30am – 4pm Monday to Friday.

We are a very flexible, young and easy-going couple, and want you to be happy with us.

If you are really interested do get back to us soon, with the date you will like to start up duties,and Resume(CV) pictures. You can all so contact me with my direct number +447930234587 or +4470318411932.

Thanks.
Mr Robert

This mail was one of the first I ever received, but luckily enough I was not yet fully taken by this aupair thing, so I went on thinking about those 2000£ a month without committment...this saved me, because I replied to the mail last week, but by then my mind was focused and I was already in contact with other families. That is how I saw the differences when he wrote me back:

Dear ,

Glad that you could write us soon (3weeks later?? no soon at all). We received the contents of your previous mail and we believe we have made a right move contacting you (what I had written was

I am writing to check the availability of this position.
Lately I have spent some time planning my next future, and for example I know now that I won't have more than six months availability. Other than this, I will be happy to begin as soon as possible!
For further deatails, please write me back to this address.

i.e. no contents at all, right?), we really like the contents of your profile and have decided to initiate contact with you .

We really need an Au pair because we need help looking after our child. We are looking for an Au pair to be a big sister or brother to our Son. Our family has decided to disable our profile on http://www.aupair4you.eu since we found your profile and wish to stop communication with intending Au pairs (apart from the vocabulary, as Juliaa already noted, but really?? I mean, what's still in my draft is something like "hey, we didn't agree on anything, did we? is your profile still on line on some other website because it's important for me to have a look!" and still I wasn't sure about rejecting his proposal...).

My Name is Mr Robert Carrick,thirty five years old .I am an Executive Chef at CLARIDGE'S Hotel Group,Brook Street, Mayfair London W1K 4HR.ok, so, what about your wife? this is mere discrepancy, out of profile-scanning experience

Our son Brian is currently 3 years old ,he's very energetic and am sure you'll love his company. Details of your work requirement would be stated in the contract letter to be issued out to you after proper perusal of your profile and work experience. Would require your mobile number in your next correspondence to us to enable us speak with you. (this is way too wrong, out of the boundaries...)

We shall be undertaking the costs of your Flight Ticket and travel documents (since you've checked on my profile, you know I'm from Italy and I don't need no travel documents, right?). Accommodation and feeding shall be provided by us(was I applying to be a flight attendant without noticing?). All these details and other information about our contract offer shall be sent to you in the approved contract letter once we receive it from the Home Office Authorities. Would like your necessary travel requirement procured soon.

My barrister(this, together with "perusal" is not fair, and is not common at all: I reckoned it was not really not the situation to call for a barrister) that works with The UK Home Office will prepare your Travel documents, so do not bother your self about that,all you have to do is to follow there instructions. I shall be sending you the information once I receive an update from my barrister for update and travel guidance/instructions so that you do not make any mistake.
(!!!haughty, at least)
Do get back to us with your Resume(CV).

Hope you would write us soon

Best Regards
Mr Robert

I'm sorry for this LONG post, but I was relieved when I found the thread, and I think I wanted to be as clear as pure water, because we're going to live in sometimes unknown countries, with unknown people, and possibly with a limited knowledge of the language and that is already a whole bunch of stuff to think about! Plus, this is the first time I face such a situation!
Hope all this will help, and I presume I cannot swear here, but Mr Robert, you will get me, right?;)

Thank you for this. I am an Icelandic girl and I figured out that the e-mail I got was a scam by google-ing the phone number, this is what came up.. he or she wrote under the name Gary Jackson - I have been google-ing his name and things in the post but found nothing.. + he said the children (2 girls) were 7 months and 3 years old but on the pictures I got from him they looked to be at least 18 months and probably 5 years old.. so thank you so much

hopefully I can find a family soon that is not a scam

Name removed CW

Hi! I'm french and I had the same problem. I received exactly the same mail as julie11, even if it was "ashley bruce" and the little boy "clinton". He sent me pictures, all seemed very real. I signed the contract letter but he asked me money via "moneygram". It's a money transfer. My mother and I surfed on the net, and we have found this website, so my mother have warned "kangaroo au pair". So if you see the salary is very big...becareful!

It's great to see people realised this to be a scam.
One of the above mentioned phone numbers (+447930234587) is very clearly linked to previous au pair type scams. One of the fraudulant messages can be seen on viewtopic.php?f=42&t=28154
The other phone number of +4470318411932 is stated by the scammer using a different name. It can be seen on the page viewtopic.php?f=34&t=15733