Is it a scam??

I received a mail from a family of New York.
They told me I contact an agent James Philip.
I don´t know if it's a scam or not.
Here are two emails from family and one from the agent.


mail from family:
I am happy for your response. My name martha. Living at 571 Academy
St, New York NY. We are a family of 4 with 2 boys, Joey will be 4 by
September and Josh is 6, our family now have a busier schedule, I
started working full time as a financial controller 8.00am to 5.30pm,
my husbands run his own pipe-lining business which is based on Civil
Engineering (so we're not always available at home), we are looking
for some assistance with the kids and around the house. Hopefully you
can add another language for them to learn and experience a different
culture. Our friends, who live minutes away, have an Au pair from
Spain and it's working really well for them. I am down to earth, blunt
and take things the way they come. I am a very friendly person and
easy to get along with. You will have no problem in adapting to our
lifestyle here with us in New York. I would love you to see me as your
Sister, for us to live as one family. We will be needing your services
due to the time commitment that is demanding by our job.

Joey and Josh are 2 wonderful kids,they mean the world to us,they are
funny playful an intelligent kids,we enrolled them at the same school
and they do both of their stuffs together.I don't think you'll have
any problems with them so far they eat and play well. Very intelligent
and fun to be with, they both love candy, chocolate enjoys watching
cartoon and maybe play with the kids next door.You’ll enjoy staying
with them.they often go bike riding and they also go for swimming
classes.

Your job is not a hard one, i do not believe in supervising or
monitoring people to do their job. I believe people should be giving a
free role in whatever they do. So I believe you should be able to
perform well without being told. All entails preparing Joey and Josh
for school in the morning. Take them to the point where the school bus
picks them up to school.You will have a free period, whereby you can
do any vocation or practice whatever is at your disposal. Then you
help monitor them after they are back home in the afternoon, just to
make sure they are alright and not left alone till my arrival from
work.

Morning: Get the Boys dressed, feeding, prepare for morning activities
(school, play, class) etc
Afternoon: Participate in other activities, library, swimming lessons,
read books and Bible, play games, listen to music
Evening: Help prepare dinner, give the Boys baths, help them put on
there Pajamas help with any projects and school activities.

You have every weekend as your off day as my husband will not be going
to work during weekends except special overtime. You will be free to
study in any school of your choice soon as you get here that's if you
still want to. I will be helping you as regards tuition fees and there
are so many colleges and Universities here that offer good and
qualitative courses. We’ll be willing to help you with that.

A well furnished bedroom will be made available for your personal use
soon as you get here. You will also be provided with a personal
computer connected to the internet so you can keep in contact with
relatives, TV and other necessary things at your disposal

You will be entitled to a pay of $1200 every month while you will also
be given an entitlement of $50 every week for petty expenses which you
might need for yourself. This salary is subject to negotiations for an
upward review upon your arrival.

I will like you to answer these Questions:
When to start? - "This is actually open to both of us so i will like
you to tell me when you will be free to start up but, if it is
possible for you to start now that would be the Best for us because
there's no one to take care of the kids now''.

Let me know if you are ready to take up this position and probably get
some more pictures from you?

I will love to know how long you want to stay with us and if the
salary is good by you?

Do you have a valid passport and other necessary document needed for
Visa Application?

Thanks,
------------------------------------------------------------

mail from family:
Good to hear back from you. Thanks for your message, I am happy you have interest in this offer. Am sure you'll definitely wanna stay back because New York is very exciting and addictive, you'll just keep loving it here. I understand that you can only start by September and is Okay by me. Anyway, i want us to start preparation as soon as possible.

Concerning the Visa, flight and other traveling documents, I believe its best we get them through an agency because of our past experience from our neighbor, so it will be perfect to apply through them, they helped our neighbor with their last Au pair and it was very fast, smooth so we also feel very secure patronizing them. We want to make sure that you have a J1 valid VISA and documents so that when you get to the USA, there wont be any hitch whatsoever. J1 Visa is meet for the Au-pair's.

Our friends had their first Au pair In the year 2010 from France that processed an invalid VISA more like a tourist VISA and was later caught some few weeks after staying with them which cost them so many Court cases, please in that case I hope you are okay with this security measure.

Also concerning your Visa processing and all traveling expenses, I believe you know that our family must also pay some amount of money too, that means you will also be paying your own part of the total traveling expenses which is affordable, but right now I cannot give you the current cost breakdown and processing details except you make contact.

As regards the Visa, flight and other traveling documents you will have to contact Mr. James Philip (The International Relations Officer) of the Au Pair America Agency on this email: [email protected] for all details of the processing of your Visa, Work Permit, Insurance and other traveling documents including the
Total Cost, please tell him "Your name, Your Full contact address and your personal cell phone number with international dialing code, your country and how long you intend staying with us and when you will wanna start and that you have found your American Host family (Martin Family with Ref no: NY12/M3609/pdf-789DR living on 571 Academy St, New York NY)

Please kindly get back to me with whatever the Agent tell you so that we can discuss better about the payment. I will be expecting your reply soonest. Make sure you contact them as soon as possible as we can't wait to have you here with us. Have a wonderful Day and take a good care of your self

I care with love,
***Martha
----------------------------


mail from agent

Au Pair America Management wishes to thank you for contacting us regarding the arrangement of your Traveling Documents to the United State of America. We promise to offer you the best which you will be glad you did. The Agency is a U.S. State Department-designated sponsor for an Au pair cultural exchange program. They bring to their program more than 25 years of experience in cultural exchange and hosting Au pairs, including those for our own children. Our experience in the travel industry has served our clients well over last several years. And we are fully ASTA and ATOL protected travel agent. which means your money is fully guaranteed.
ATOL – which is short for “Air Travel Organizers' Licensing” – exists to protect the public from losing money or being stranded abroad because of the failure of air travel firms. It was first introduced in 1972 and it gives comprehensive consumer protection to 28 million people in the UK and USA who buy flights or air holidays each year.

We got a call from a Host Families (Martin Family with Ref no: NY12/M3609/pdf-789DR living on 571 Academy St, New York NY. United States) that you are from her. We promise never to disappoint you as we have never disappointed in fulfilling our promises. We would request that you strictly download, print, read through, fill carefully and send back to us via this email address scanned copy of the duly filled forms attached to this mail,it contains all necessary information you need in regards to the Total cost and the documents requested from you to provide so that we can successfully process all your Travel document,Visa and Flight Ticket.

For the Cost and the Child Care Agreement Form for download, read and fill carefully the attached word document file titled-Au pair NEW COST FORM stated in this attached is the total cost of $1,440 as an Au pair . For your Au Pair America Registration Form and list of required documents you will have to provide, download read carefully and Fill the attached Document file titled- Au Pair APPLICATION FORM. We expect you to get back to us with the filled forms not more than a week from now , so that we can inform you on how to make payment.

Note : That we can not proceed with if we do not receive the scanned copies of the duly filled form,these forms enable us to register you with Au Pair AmericaProgram as an Au Pair and it also provide all necessary information that we will require to process your Visa and other travel documents so once the payment is made with a detailed submission of all the duly filled forms then we can start processing of your Visa,Flight ticket and every other travel documents.



TERMS AND REGULATIONS


Au Pair America, Inc. work in full term and condition with all international Visa & Working Permit Agency ,for all travelers in Countries that are not in the same country with the agency of their choice or where the Agency of their choice don't have office in their country.

Which allow for the Following Terms and Regulations:

- All Document necessary Must be valid and certified by Migrations service of the country of the traveler

-The photo Page of the passport of all traveler must show the original personality in physical.

- Visa charges and work permit fees must be paid directly to the Consulate of the Country the traveler is going which is in affiliation with the Immigration Department of the country the traveler is traveling to.

- All Customers Processing Visa of the country of their choice with Agencies in the country of their choice must Send along with other necessary document the photo page of their Passport which will serve as evident of legibility at the Consulate of their country of their choice in their location.

- All Customers Processing Visa of the country of their choice with Agencies in the country of their choice must have a mailing address where all necessary document which include letter of invitation to the country of their choice by Consulate of the country, letter of invitation by their host family and Faxed papers for Visa charges payment will be mailed to.

- Which was recently added in the advent of cyber crimes disallow any form of payment with out cash therefore Bank check,Credit Cards,Money orders are not accepted for payment for any service.In keeping this regulations legible applicants who are not in the same location with the traveling agency of the choice will only make payment via the host family or via western union or bank transfer to our agency representative.


Thanks for contacting us,In anticipation of your response. "At Au Pair America we are interested in getting you to your destination in style and comfort."

katka01 I strongly believe that is a SCAM!!!

Please check the emails and phonenumbers from the REAL Agency on the real website!I found this one :http://www.aupairinamerica.com/applying/ or you can just simply write to the real agency to ask!

Did they give you a phonenumber?

Do not pay anything to the agency expecially through Western Union or Money Gram!

katka01 and compare with that emails from which they sent you the email. I am sure it will be different!!!BE CAUTIOUS!!!

They real agency will not take money from you!!!And if they offer you a high salary for Nanny job, it will be a scam!!!

katka01

I send you the website you can check the list of the Agencies! this is an official website of US EMBASSY, and there are the LEGAL AGENCIES!!!

http://j1visa.state.gov/participants/ho ... =Au%20Pair

Here are a few forms from the agent and his certificate.
What do you think?

https://www.email.cz/download/i/n0EL9hjDbM2647AHIs1DGC4CEzSMD3hh3fJUIZYIvQMPXb_FWQonJZcqGWwjNqV4nkIxhAg/ASTA_CERTIFICATION.jpg

https://www.email.cz/download/i/eylp99q-5R7iu3CKTtmsmY1DdDWVWQtA53eGOB_J-LvmxKojektZzjTr_m1Adwr5fQMWhWk/First%20Application%20Form.pdf

https://www.email.cz/download/i/QvHG9281sXvGUIuznFGsmY1DdDWW_LVMaLzfKAN23BMBH-uuektZzjTr_m1Adwr5fQMWhWk/Second%20Application%20Form.pdf

Yes I agree with Kabbe.
If you look on the page viewtopic.php?f=42&t=54493 you basically see the same script (from the first mail from the family) used in a previous scam dated September Twenty 12. Some of the script has been changed and the scammer called itself sarah. But it's the same script.
Sorry Katka01, but your time has been wasted by a low life scammer. You would be best to simply stop all communications with the fraud.
And the 'agent' is also a part of the scam.

Just to make sure it is very clear:

There is NO question about this. It is 100% scam.

The writing tells me the people are NOT American. The mistakes of both the "family" and the (fake) "agency" (who are the same scammer or part of the same scamming group) are consistent with an African author.

The US has VERY strict laws regarding au pair visas.
-You can NEVER be given an au pair job offer without having a face-to-face interview, in English, with a representative of the au pair agency.
-You will NEVER send money by WU or moneygram to any family or agency.
-If you meet the requirements and are accepted by the agency, you will be given the forms you need and you will have to go the the US embassy or consulate in your country to get a visa.

Yes, katka01, I got the same fake contract, company license and application forms as well at the time.

Sorry, i hope you did not go so far.

I had received the SAME mails from a California family. I googled the agent mail, [email protected] and takes me to this forum. Its seems to be too easy and beautiful to be real.

I paste here the mails to show they are the same.

Hello,

I am happy for your response. My name Valerie S. Chavez. I am a Physiotherapy doctor in a Hospital Company in here in California, while my husband work with the government (so we're not always available at home). I am down to earth, blunt and take things the way they come. I am a very friendly person and easy to get along with.You will have no problem in adapting to our lifestyle here with us in California. I would love you to see me as your Sister, for us to live as one family. We will be needing your services due to the time commitment that is demanding by our job.

My daughter {Carolyn} is three years, we enrolled her at a kindergarten school this year (January), after which she will also proceed to elementary school. She is welcoming and though she is young, she has a warm reception for people and she has got friendly attitude too. She likes playing a lot and i do not think you will not have any problem with her so far she eats and plays well. Very intelligent and fun to be with, she likes candy, chocolate enjoys watching cartoon movies. She also play with her toys with our neighbors son which is of her age mate. Am sure you’ll enjoy staying with her.

Your job is not a hard one, i do not believe in supervising or monitoring people to do their job. I believe people should be giving a free role in whatever they do. So I believe you should be able to perform well without being told. All entails preparing Carolyn for school in the morning. Take her to the point where the school bus picks her up to school.You will have a free period, whereby you can do any vocation or practice whatever is at your disposal. Then you help monitor her after she's back home in the afternoon, just to make sure she's alright and not left alone till my arrival from work.

Morning: Get Carolyn dressed, feeding, prepare for morning activities (school, play, class) etc

Afternoon: Participate in other activities, library, swimming lessons, read books and Bible, play games, listen to music

Evening: Help prepare dinner, give Carolyn her baths, help her put on her Pajamas help with any projects and school activities.

You have every weekend as your off day as my husband will not be going to work during weekends except special overtime. You will be free to study in any school of your choice soon as you get here that's if you still want to. I will be helping you as regards tuition fees and there are so many colleges and Universities here that offer good and qualitative courses. We’ll be willing to help you with that.

A well furnished bedroom will be made available for your personal use soon as you get here. You will also be provided with a personal computer connected to the internet so you can keep in contact with relatives, TV and other necessary things at your disposal

You will be entitled to a pay of $1200 every month while you will also be given an entitlement of $50 every week for petty expenses which you might need for yourself. This salary is subject to negotiations for an upward review upon your arrival.

I will like you to answer these Questions:

When to start? - "This is actually open to both of us so i will like you to tell me when you will be free to start up but, if it is possible for you to start now that would be the Best for us because there's no one to take care of Carolyn right now''.

Let me know if you are ready to take up this position and probably get some more pictures from you?

I will love to know how long you want to stay with us and if the salary is good by you?

Do you have a valid passport and other necessary document needed for Visa Application?

Thanks,

Valerie

and the second mail

So glad to read from you and am happy to know you're interested in been part of our family. I believe you'll wanna stay longer at the expiration of you stay because California is a nice place to live, very condusive and cool. I also understand that you would be available by November, also Food will be given at home and you are aso entittle to $50 every week for petty expenses. Anyway, its better we start preparation as soon as possible as long as you are interested.

Concerning the The Agentcy i am a registered member under one Agent. They can help with Visa, flight and other traveling documents, I believe its best we get them through an agency because of our past experience from our neighbor, so it will be perfect to apply through them, they helped our neighbor with their last Au pair and it was very great and also feel very secure patronizing them. We want to make sure that you have a valid visa so that when you get to the US Embassy there wont be any hitch whatsoever. Our friends had their first Au pair In the year 2012 from France that processed an invalid visa and was later caught some few weeks after staying with them which cost them so many Court cases. We want to make sure that you have a J1 valid VISA and documents so that when you get to the US there wont be any hitch whatsoever. J1 Visa is meet for the Au-pair's. please in that case I hope you are okay with this security measure.

Also concerning your Visa processing and all traveling expenses, I believe you know that our family must also pay some amount of money too, that means you will also be paying your own part of the total traveling expenses which is affordable, but right now I cannot give you the current cost breakdown and processing details except you make contact. I want us to make progress without any delay so that you can join us soonest.

As regards the Visa, flight and other traveling documents you will have to contact Mr. James Philip (The International Relations Officer) of the Au Pair America Agency on this email: [email protected] for all details of the processing of your Visa, Work Permit, Insurance and other traveling documents including the Total Cost,please tell him "Your name, Your Full contact address and your personal cell phone number with international dialing code, your country and how long you intend staying with us and when you will wanna start and that you have found your American Host family (Chavez Family with Ref no: CA12/M3609/pdf-789DR living on #17 Mallard Drive, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656. United States)

I attached a picture of a room provided for you, I hope you like it and some pictures of Carolyn. Have a wonderful Day and take a good care of your self.

Then Please kindly get back to me with whatever they tell you so that we can discuss better about the payment. I will be expecting your reply soonest. Make sure you contact them as soon as possible as we can't wait to have you here with us.

I care with love,

***Valerie

What if I provided them with the first page of my expired passport?? Are they able to do anything with this??? I was able to realize about the scam prior giving them any money, but is it possible that they can use my info to do anything?

@alezza13, check your PM (Personal Messages)