Gumtree housekeeper cheque scam ?

Hi

I applied for a housekeeper job on gumtree and got a reply ( below). After that, we have spoken for a while and he has even sent me a cheque before the job. I took the cheque to the bank and they said that the money should come to my account in 4 days. However on the same day gumtree guy has asked me to send her guardian £500, because she is in real trouble. Is it a scam?

I took the cheque to the bank and they didn't say anything. What if it turns into a fake check, will I be in trouble then?

Hello !

How are you doing and thanks for getting back to me about my wants for a cleaner.I am a busy man and am so much sorry for getting back late,I will want you to know that Currently am out of England for now due to my work.

I will be coming back to England by End of Next month and i want my house to be clean before my arrival because av been away for the pass 6months and i hope you know how dirty its should be now.I do have a Guardian who normally comes around to check the safety of the place..

So Now let get to business about what type of cleaning you should do and your payments,I would like to offer you £15/hr which i have in mind but i don't know how much you charge.You could let me know and we talk if its would work with me and get back to me with the total amount of if you working for 20hrs in 2 weeks.

Lastly about the Payment ,i am paying you with my Paycheque which i want you to know that the amount on my pay Cheque is always higher than your cleaning fees.I am paying you out of the Pay cheque and the rest money would be to the Guardian .

The Guardian is making some other arrangement for my arrival and tools you would used for the cleaning ,all this would need some funds .I want you know that i will let my client send you a cheque for the Payment for cleaning of the house and you send the remaining balance back to the Guardian after you deduct your fees.

Please bear with me and kindly help me out on this and I want you to know that the Guardian is a foreigner and she only get in touch with me via email because that is the only way of contact for now,she is new and don't have an account to get cheque cashed .I am just helping her to live on earth that why am using her.

So as soon as you get the cheque deposited at your bank you will deduct cost of cleaning the house and send the remaining balance to the Guardian. Please get back to me with your location so that i can give you directions on how to locate my apartment.

Kindly send your full information to receive the cheque so that payment can be able to made out on-time. So hope i can trust you that you clean the house and i hope i can count on you for the cleaning and the money to be sent to the Guardian.

Thanks and waiting to read from you. I don't want any delay at all.


1.YOUR CHARGE FOR AN HOUR....
2.TOTAL CHARGES FOR ..TOTAL OF 20HRS IN 2WEEKS
3.FULL NAME AND ADDRESS......
4.YOUR PHONE NUMBER...
5.WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED AT THE MOMENT?

If you have not sent money, DO NOT SEND it. If you have sent money, and it has not been picked up, contact Western Union or Moneygram (whichever you used) immediately and cancel the transaction.

The check IS fraudulent. There is no doubt about that. This is a bog-standard scam.

When the bank discovers the check is fraudulent, you can be held liable for the entire amount of the check, plus fines for making a fraudulent deposit. You can also be charged with a crime.

Contact your bank's fraud department ASAP. Let them know that you now realize that the person who sent you the check is a scammer. Be prepared to show the emails to them so they understand that you were not intending to commit a crime.

Yes it is a scam. Do not send the money, the check/cheque will come back as fake at some point and the bank will hold you liable for paying back the full amount. If you have cashed the check/cheque like it sounds you have inform your bank straight away.

Wow ,okay. I haven't sent him any money but I did take my cheque to the bank today. I'm gonna call them as soon as I wake up tomorrow. I hope it's not too late already.

If you haven't withdrawn any money, and you contact them as soon as possible, most banks will recognize that you didn't intend to do something wrong, and will help to get you sorted out.

He's not going back to England because he has never been there. He is in West Africa. No one who grew up in England would write like that.

Please print out the emails, including full headers, which may contain the number 41, which will prove that they came from Africa. (If they don't contain proof that they came from Africa, print the headers anyway.)

So I talked to the bank today, and they pretty much said that they can't to anything until the money is transferred to my account. I spoke to 3 people at the bank and they all seemed pretty clueless

The important thing is that you have proactively notified them. Make sure you keep track of who you talked to and when. It's not uncommon for the average bank employee to be unaware of how this works.

Just make sure you do not take out any of the money. Cut off all contact with the scammer. The scammer may send threats--just ignore them. You have committed no crime, and are guilty of nothing, as long as you do not touch the money.