by Chris Fuller
Tue Feb 26, 2013 3:08 am
Hello mvmra, and welcome to ScamWarners. I'm glad that you didn't have your money stolen by this scammer.
This scammer is really living in Nigeria, and it is usually impossible to get a Nigerian scammer arrested. They use fake names and email accounts set up with false information, and they often use anonymous internet cafés as well, so it is unlikely that anyone can discover their true identities. But even if we can find out who they really are, the police in our own countries are unable to make an international arrest; and the police in Nigeria are usually more focused on other types of crimes, and are not prioritizing the investigation of scammers at this time.
Therefore, the best thing that we can do is publicise the scammers and warn others about them. We can't get them arrested - but we can do our best to prevent them from stealing money from people, by telling others about them.
Please don't worry about anything that you have sent to the scammer. Au pair scammers write to dozens of au pairs at the same time, sometimes as many as 80 to 100 au pairs. All of these au pairs will send the scammer their personal details, photos, and sometimes a passport scan as well. The scammer may make a note of a phone number, but he isn't interested in anything else, and he usually doesn't even bother to look at anything he is sent. He only asks for these things in the hope that it makes him appear more believable.
Au pair scammers' inboxes are full of au pairs' details, CVs/résumés, photos, and ID and passport scans. There is no reason that this scammer will pay any particular attention to anything that you have sent him.
The exception is if you have sent the scammer any of your financial details: your bank account or credit card information. In this case, you would need to inform your bank and credit card company immediately, and tell them that a scammer has your information. But this is not something that usually happens with au pair scammers.
