Mael Holmes - scam or not? help

Hi,
I received an e mail from Mael Holmes Family... I'd like to know is it scam or not??? [email protected] - that's their e mail...
thank u!

Hi Queens,

could you post the email you received?
Include headers (remove your details) if you can.

Dear Au-pair,

We would like to expand our friendly and open family and receive you as a new member. We reviewed your profile on http://www.mydearaupair.com and we would like to discuss the au pair job with you. We will need you for at least 3 months or more, however, if you like, you are very much welcome to stay longer...

We are based in England, United Kingdom where we work and live. We have 2 kids Martins and Martina. Due to our busy work schedule, we would like to employ an au pair. You shall be provided with accommodation and a weekly pay of 450GBP. Other benefits may be added.

We would give you more information as soon as we hear from you. In your reply, please include a recent picture of yourself and an introduction letter.

We hope you are having a good week...

Best Regards

Mael and Julie Holmes
England, United Kingdom.
For The Family....


and then when I replied they sent me
Dearest Au pair,

How are you doing today out there?... We are so happy for getting back to us and we feel humbled and happy that you like our family and as well very willing to work with us.

We have decided to find an au pair because we need help looking after our children. We are looking for an au pair to be a big sister or brother to our children and to become another member of our lovely and happy family. We have reviewed your application well and we are considering you for the position. Thanks for the lovely photo, i think my lovely wife likes you

Based on your experiences, skills and qualifications, i thinks my little angels will be safe in your hands while we would be away for work.

My name is Mael Holmes and I am 39 years old, I work as a Consultant Doctor and My spouse Julie Holmes is thirty years old and works as a Nurse.

We live in a four bedroom house in England and have a son and a daughter, they are twins 4years old each.
Martina and Martins, the kids like to go to the parks once a week and we would like you to take them.
We will require you to take care of the kids for about 30hrs a week. You will have weekends free and we will pay you £450 per week, with pocket money which we will give to you every Friday.

United Kingdom is a beautiful place, beautiful people, with different races and culture living there together. Our residence is very open and near the city and there are other au pairs close by. There is also a good language school and we will encourage you to go for lessons there to learn English or any Language if you wish to. But in your case I do not think you would need to learn English. In the area there is one pub full of young people, a shop/post office and a hall where people get together to have parties. There is also a bus stop outside our house with direct access into the city center.

You will eat and dine with us freely, you will have your own bedroom and your own bathroom either live in or live out fully furnished, plus desk phone and computer system with internet.

We do not have any pets and we do not smoke as long as drinking is concern.

We need an au pair to start with us soon and stay until at least 3 months or more. We will need you to drive our second car if you can and we shall arrange some driving lessons for you when you arrive. You may use this car for taking the kids to school and for your private use. There would also be medical insurance vacation and other benefits which would be included in the contract.

My lawyer works with the UK Home Office and that is good for us as he informed me that you can secure a valid traveling documents which can enable travel to UK in one month. He said he would get back to me with detailed information to go about employing a aupair including the necessary steps to take to acquire legal au pair work and residence documents for the United Kingdom.

Once I get the necessary information, I'll send it to you so that you do not make any mistakes hence wait for my travel guidance. My direct mobile is +44 *** *** **** should you wish to talk to me.. Kindly Send us your resume CV for our perusal okay?.

work as an associate with the International Association of Study of Pain http://www.iasp-pain.org, is all about the pain of the nervous system and am meant to be be present at their 14th World Congress on Pain, which will be held on August 27-31 2012 in Milan Italy. Due to my busy schedule last years i couldn't attend the last convention which was done in Canada. so i would be present this up coming one and i would like to employ someone who will stay with my wife and kids, while am away.

So i will advice you we start now to process the procurement of your traveling papers now that am lesser busy at work to enable me follow up and monitor your work because i will be leaving for the conference before June okay.

My wife sends her regards and please accept warm hugs and kisses from the kids.

Write us soon. Cheers

Mael and Julie Holmes.
England, United Kingdom.

the phone number starts +44 703

Hi Queens,

this is HIGHLY suspicious, as contains several elements commonly found in aupair scams.
I would say 100% scam.

1. Very few families will employ an aupair merely basing on photos and CV (if you have kids, you can ask yourself, would you employ an aupair for your kids based only on photo and CV?)

2. If the phone number is something +4470..... or +44070....., then it is a redirect number (the answerer can be anyone in any place of the world, e.g. Nigeria). If this is the case, this is definite sign of scam.

3. Another common sign in aupair scams is that the family claims to have connections which would help you to get required travel papers (normally a visa). No one can arrange an UK visa for you. You must go personally at UK Border Agency office to get a visa. Moreover, actually most nationals are not entitled to work as aupair in UK. Notable exceptions are EU nationals (for which no visa is required) and some Commonwealth citizens.

Please be extra cautions.

It's a scam. The African English was evident even before he got to the phony home office contact (the scammer intends to collect phony fees for a nonexistent visa). There is no doubt where this scam is going.

In addition, phone numbers starting with 44-70 are redirect phone numbers forwarded to phones anywhere in the world. They are not real UK phone numbers. They are used by scammers pretending to be in UK, and if you receive an offer from UK using one of these phone numbers, it is going to be a scam.

Hi Queens,

thank you for the phone number. This is the definite proof. It is 100% scam.

As they have your real life details (photos), drop contacts with them asap.
Do not confront them, do not tell them you know they are scammers, do not tell them about ScamWarners.

As marketing manager of Mydearaupair.com, I can assure you that we are taking into account all the scam mails that you may have received.

In order to protect our members personal information and avoid spams, mydearaupair.com is improving its website.

Within a few days, the contact details of our members will no longer be visible without authorization.

Therefore, a family wishing to contact an aupair or an aupair wishing to contact a family, will have to put in a contact request in order to access the complete profile of the aupair or the family.

Moreover, we are improving the security of our website by asking families or aupairs to send us an official proof of identity in case of doubt.

Be sure that we want to help you find out the scammers and remove them form our database.

We hope that those mesures will help you to find the best family.

Denis Bories

The email address : [email protected] is deleted from our database.

I thank you to let me know as soon as you receive this kind of emails.

Best regards,

Denis Bories