Nicholas Rafael - Help me please! Is this a scam?!

Hello everybody, I need your help.
I received this email and after my reponse another one from this e-mail adressù: [email protected]
Can you help me understand if he is a scam?
Thanks in advance!

"Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2012 11:48:08 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: Family From easyaupair.com.................Aupair/Nanny is needed Urgently
To:

Hello Au pair
How are you doing today,hope our message meet you in a good condition,we are family located in San Diego,California .We are going through Au pair Profile on http://www.Easyauapir and we are interested in your profile and seems to be our family match,we are looking for a Nanny/Au pair to take care of our Daughter called Vera she is just 5 years old,she is brilliant and talented,she is a Nursery school girl and she need someone during the absent of parent,Our family Name is Nicholas Rafael i work as a Engineer in a Oil and Gas Company and my wife is an Immigration Officer in Embassy,so if you are interested,here is your Activity below.
Can you Take her to school?
Can you prepare Morning meals?
Can you take her to park or beach during the weekend?
Can you cook?
Where are you from?
Have you been outside your country?
what can you do to make our Daughter Happy?.

We will be hoping to hear back from you soon.
Mr Nicholas"

then

"Hello Au pair
Thanks for getting back to me once again,i am very Enthusiastic to
read from you and your message are Sumptuous,As i said earlier i brief
you a bit about my family and what we want for our daughter and how we
want her to be treated,i guess you know what your job and your
schedule in our family is gonna be,Moreover But i needed a full trust
and honest from you and a very good caring from you to my daughter..
I hope you don't have a criminal record,and i will like to know how
long you want to stay with me and when you can be here and are you
married or do u have a boy friend? And please send me
your pictures and your full contact details and that will make me
believe who you said you are cause we've been lied and scammed many
times and we don't want the issue to repeat itself and our family
policies for the Employee is have it in mind that the host family wont
be the only one to shoulder the responsibilities concerning your visa
and working permit,and we want you to have it mind that we are Under a
Traveling Agency called US IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT OFFICE They are going to be the one to help into our Family and into USA with a J-1 Visa which is recommended for Au pairs/Nannies,So kindly get back to me asap and we can talk about how to process your document and your flight as soon as possible.So get back asap.Yes i do accept Couple.
Mr Nicholas"

(Sorry for the long post but so you have both emails)

The short answer is yes. The fraudulant trickster (using another name and slightly differing text) can be seen at viewtopic.php?f=42&t=45384
You would be doing yourself a HUGE favour by simply ceasing all contact with the scamster

There is absolutely no doubt about it. It is a scam.

From the start, the writing tells me that the author is African, not American.

But, even more importantly, the US has very strict regulations regarding au pair visas. There is no way to get a visa without being sponsored by one of the agencies designated by the US government.

A real family would most likely find their au pair through one of these agencies--but even if they don't, they would still have to make arrangements through one of the agencies.

Here is the official list:
http://j1visa.state.gov/participants/how-to-apply/sponsor-search/?program=Au%20Pair&state=any

If you are asked to contact ANY agency that is not on the official list, then you are dealing with a scammer. As you can see, US IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT OFFICE is not on that list.

You also need to understand--if a potential family gives you the name of an agency that is on the official list, then you need to be able to call the agency at the number on the official list, and verify that they are indeed your sponsor.