help please!!!!!

Good Morning! I recently became a member on Care.com. I applied to a babysitting job, which I know see as "too good to be true." It was a Nanny position, Monday-Saturday for $1280 week. All correspondence was done through Care.com up until yesterday, when I received an email asking me to send a resume and an answered list of personal questions to a personal email address. This person now knows my address, cell phone number, personal email address, my birthdate, and my marital status. They also know I have a young son. And in probably the biggest lapse of judgment, I disclosed that I would be away in August, with exact dates. Note, they did not ask if I would be away, I gave that information willingly, in order to be upfront with any needs I may have if hired. I was contacted by Care.com this morning saying that the person has been removed from their database. They did not disclose exactly why, but I emailed them back asking for more information. I was given a case number to refer to. I feel very vulnerable and afraid right now. They know my address and when I will be away. I don't know what I should do .. I am lost and so scared.

If you still have the messages from this person, please post them here and we can tell you for certain, but you were almost certainly in contact with an African scammer.

These scammers are in this business solely for the money. They work by convincing you to send money to them via western union. They hide behind fake names, addresses, and locations. They are rarely even in their claimed country--they are most likely sitting at a computer in Africa or Malaysia.

Most of these scammers are cowards. They operate this way is because it is relatively safe for them. Their chances of being caught are low, and if they are caught, they are likely going to be able to avoid severe punishment--in many areas, they are dealing with corrupt law enforcement and can bribe their way out of trouble.

Even if they can get a visa and raise the cash to come to your country (which is unlikely in many cases,) coming to visit you puts them at pretty significant risk. They cannot hide. They will be traceable. They will have to go through airports, with lots of security and cameras. They will have to get a car, or be even further traceable via taxi or bus drivers. As foreigners to your country, they face law enforcement that will NOT show leniency. And even if they didn't get caught, chances are they wouldn't make enough money to pay for their plane tickets, let alone the other costs associated with coming to your country. The scammer knows all this--and he is not going to take a chance.

Sometimes scammers will threaten you, and try to scare you into sending money. But the truth is, the same information above still applies. They are not going to risk exposing themselves. They will send anonymous threats, and hope you will pay, but they aren't going to follow through.

So don't worry about it--just cut off all contact with the scammer. Don't answer any more emails, and don't take any phone calls from outside your country. If you would like, simply tell them you are no longer interested--but don't give them detailed reasons. They may try to email or call you with more fake opportunities under new names for a while, so just be alert for other bogus offers, but other than that, you really have no need to worry.

Dotti,
Although I am still quite scared and desperate, I truly appreciate you getting back to me so quickly and for putting my mind at ease. Here is the only msg I have received from "Brandy".


After a serious discussion with my husband concerning a proper care for our daughter, we finally decided to search for a good and responsible Nanny. If you are a student you can go for your classes and report as soon as you are done with classes. The weekly pay is $1240.00 for live out and $1180.00 for live in. We will be responsible for your regardless the distance. You will be working with my sister .We are strongly in search for someone of well mannered attitudes, neatness and good sense of relationship. We are a Christian family and we love our religion so basically everything we do is according to our doctrines, I don't mind your religion, but just letting you know so we don't offend you. If you are interested in this offer, please answer all the questions below so I can have a brief idea of you. 1) What academic qualifications do you possess? 2) Do you have any relevant certificate to back up your babysitting/nanny career? 3) How old are you? 4) Are you married? 5) Tell us more about your temperament? 6) Can you handle money if you are given an assignment to carry out? 7) How would you spend a time with my daughter all through the day? What kind of activities would you plan for her? Kindly send your answers to my questions and your resume to my private email address: [email protected] let me know if you will be available for the work offer and if you have any questions as regards this offer, feel free to get in touch with me. I await a response today. Regards Mrs. Brandy Skylar

As Dotti has said please do not worry, I doubt that they would take it any further, just ignore any more emails and phone calls, they will soon get the message and leave you alone.

If you could post the headers for the emails there is a link in my sig line on how to do this.

Thank you so much, Gateway, for helping me out. I am just so upset, but mostly mad at myself.
I will certainly post what you requested, because I still have the message. My email address is part of the headers if I read your instructions correctly (and who knows, I'm a mess right now!). Is that safe to post here? Sorry to sound paranoid -- I am just so afraid to do anything online right now!

Delete your email address (and your mail server, if you run it yourself) and really long strings of base-64 code (the long ones that cause forum blowout are usually preceded by "b=") but leave the rest of the headers intact. Your email address may occur four times or so in the headers.

Thanks for the tip, vonpaso. Hope I'm doing this right ...


Delivered-To: --------
Received: by 10.14.3.67 with SMTP id 43csp205002eeg;
Sat, 2 Jun 2012 09:40:29 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.52.69.110 with SMTP id d14mr5960804vdu.124.1338655229277;
Sat, 02 Jun 2012 09:40:29 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from mta.care.com (mta.care.com. [204.232.230.87])
by mx.google.com with ESMTP id j4si1754628vcw.80.2012.06.02.09.40.28;
Sat, 02 Jun 2012 09:40:29 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of care876999005.pttSumfzk8bDpT589jA7sfWdN ... e.care.com designates 204.232.230.87 as permitted sender) client-ip=204.232.230.87;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of care876999005.pttSumfzk8bDpT589jA7sfWdN ... e.care.com designates 204.232.230.87 as permitted sender) smtp.mail=care876999005.pttSumfzk8bDpT5 ... e.care.com
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for <------->; Sat, 2 Jun 2012 12:40:28 -0400 (EDT)
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by 256390-search1.care.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 897873110043
for <-------->; Sat, 2 Jun 2012 12:40:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Brandy S. " <[email protected] >
Reply-To: "Brandy S. " <[email protected] >
To:-----------
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Nanny Or Baby Sitter Needed.
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_Part_2134798_691251310.1338655228560"
X-rpcampaign: care876999005.pttSumfzk8bDpT589jA7sfWdNlZNQ0Qx
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2012 12:40:28 -0400 (EDT)

------=_Part_2134798_691251310.1338655228560
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

The email I have waited all day for finally came -- and it was a complete letdown. Why can't they release specific details as to why an account has been closed??? It's like they are protecting the people in question. I am still as uneasy as I was when I first got their email this morning. I'm so thankful I found this website at least, because I can talk with experienced people that can provide excellent and helpful info.

Here's the email:

I'm very sorry to hear about your experience with the care seeker in question. However,pursuant to the Care.com Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, Care.com cannot release the specific details as to why an account has been closed. However, for your perusal I have attached a list of common reasons why an account may be terminated.

As a membership-based online community, Care.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate a member's Care.com membership for any reason or no reason. Reasons why we may remove a member from the Care.com community include, but are not limited to:

The individual does not meet membership criteria (e.g., is underage)
Care.com does not offer its services where the member is located
The member is not active in the service
Care.com determines that it has insufficient or excessive membership coverage where the member is located
Care.com determines that the services offered by the member are not being sufficiently utilized or there are a sufficient number of members already providing those services
The member has misrepresented himself or herself and/or has provided false information to Care.com
The member has been alleged to have been impolite in their interactions with other Care.com members
The member has searched for inappropriate words/phrases and/or content on Care.com
The member has been alleged to have harassed other member(s) of Care.com
The member has been accused of, arrested for, or convicted of a crime
Allegations of theft, abuse or neglect have been brought against the member
We were unable to verify the information the member provided when he/she registered
As stated above, Care.com may terminate a member for any reason or no reason. Accordingly, any decision by Care.com to terminate a member's Care.com membership does not constitute and should not be interpreted or used as information bearing on the member's character, general reputation, personal characteristics, or mode of living.



Furthermore, we take the safety and security of our members very seriously , so I would suggest that you take advantage of our "safety center" that is located in the top, right hand side of the home page. Simply click on the orange "safety center" tab and you will find very helpful resources.


Thank you,
Jennifer
Care.com Member Care

That email came through care.com, and I can't tell where it came from originally. If you get a reply to the email you sent to her personal email, please post the headers here. That'll probably tell us something.

mariposa000 I got that same message from the same women and then carecom sent me the same messages. Have you found out anything more about this whole thing?

The posted message is a typical script of an African scammer.

These search results show us that scammers have been using parts of the same script for quite a long time.

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22We+are+a+Christian+family+and+we+love+our+religion+so+basically+everything+we+do+is+according+to+our+doctrines%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Based on this information, I would not worry too much about the information you have provided.

Thanks vonpaso, I'll be sure to do that. Sorry it happened to you, too swood--did you give out information, too?? I wonder how care.com was alerted to them...did someone report them for suspicious behavior when they received the email? I wish I had received the email from care.com before giving all the information. Dotti, that is crazy that the same script has been used over and over. I will certainly be more careful from now on.

Got an email this AM from "Brandy". The English in this one is certainly far worse than in the first email!

Delivered-To: --------
Received: by 10.14.3.67 with SMTP id 43csp38368eeg;
Mon, 4 Jun 2012 06:58:07 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.224.105.202 with SMTP id u10mr13660099qao.54.1338818287259;
Mon, 04 Jun 2012 06:58:07 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from nm27-vm0.bullet.mail.bf1.yahoo.com (nm27-vm0.bullet.mail.bf1.yahoo.com. [98.139.213.139])
by mx.google.com with SMTP id v8si4221594qct.115.2012.06.04.06.58.06;
Mon, 04 Jun 2012 06:58:07 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: best guess record for domain of [email protected] designates 98.139.213.139 as permitted sender) client-ip=98.139.213.139;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: best guess record for domain of [email protected] designates 98.139.213.139 as permitted sender) [email protected]; dkim=pass (test mode) [email protected]
Received: from [98.139.214.32] by nm27.bullet.mail.bf1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 04 Jun 2012 13:56:45 -0000
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DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=yahoo.com; s=s1024; t=1338818205; bh=GLRQKkZzYAdGIJM3btyPS+G6JADfmdVDRfrK+yHYFwg=; h=X-YMail-OSG:Received:X-Mailer:References:Message-ID:Date:From:Reply-To:Subject:To:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type; b=Oco1Si7NCnLW5MHgT1DltvAKDw0TN722lIWj/xjrQv5pfOIP/qfEViRtxkrCGFbRIrAAI8dq1POpUsu2f0n49U1kFrf1PU0c0e7m7I/ShmQuVQNlOzvcQ34RuyVXZX2bdWiPAoOOlldQyqZhRykHm4jlSUXRjNyOpO7fnIvpipY=
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References: <CAN3XwHMN1Lmzx2Rf7jVoCsQGeMsAXxLx-QpgXy=+Tnc30W7Kqw@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 06:56:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: Brandy Skylar <[email protected]>
Reply-To: Brandy Skylar <[email protected]>
Subject: Assignment to carry out before starting your job.
To: --------
In-Reply-To: <CAN3XwHMN1Lmzx2Rf7jVoCsQGeMsAXxLx-QpgXy=+Tnc30W7Kqw@mail.gmail.com>
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Thank you for your interest in taking the job as a nanny for my daughter I received your email with your resume which was well noted by me, I genuinely appreciate your the answers to my questions, I did appreciate it. It would really help me make a choice, which I've done. Please i want you to understand that my daughter is still a little girl and she deserves all the care and love from you. I am currently out of town on a 8 days business trip to Montreal I would like you to run an assignment for me before I arrive in my previous email which I sent to you if you would be able to run assignments and if money were given to you can you handle it which you stated YES . My company accountant would send you a check which you would use to carry out an assignment for me okay, please know that the money is used to purchase the following toys for my daughter listed below:

1. Plum Kudu Playset Swing Slide Wooden Gym.
2. Peg Perego Polaris Ranger RZR 24V Battery Powered Ride On.

The payment would cover the stated above toys for Monica when you get the check you will deduct 200 Usd which would be used for transport to your bank and other items you would need upon my arrival back from Montreal on 11th of June and you would resume your job on the 13th of June with your weekly pay of 1,700 Usd live-in or 1,850 Usd live-out depending on which you prefer. I am very happy that i found you and i want you to promise me that you will look after Monica and take her as your own. I really appreciate your help. For now, please confirm to me if you accept my offer to cater for my daughter. Please feel free to provide your following details for documentation and information for my company to send the check to you.

Full Name:
Current Address (PLEASE NOT P.O BOX):
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Phone Number:
Nationality:

Once you receive the check I would send you the information of the sales agent for the listed toys above so you can forward the reaming balance for the listed toys above I would be waiting to receive the information so I would forward it to my accountant would be looking forward to hear from you today have a nice day.

Regards,

Mrs. Brandy Skylar.

The IP address is in AOL, which doesn't tell me much, as AOL runs proxies for its customers.

Sending you a check, before you move to the job, to buy some toy for the kid is a common ploy in au-pair scams. The check will be fake, and it makes no sense to ask you to buy a bulky object like that and transport it to the host's site, when the host could buy it locally.

The salary makes no sense for an au pair.

OMG!!!! I have recieved the same exact emails! The two that you have recieved from Brandy were the same exact emails, so I think she is sending them to multiple people. She has the same personal information that she got from you, as she does for me, because I replied to the first email. I have not responded after the second email where she stated that I had to buy those toys. Care.com sent me an email yesterday morning telling me that they removed her from the site, but she emailed me that second email this morning. So I contacted care.com this afternoon, and was told that it would be 24 hours before they could respond.