Au Pair Scams. What do I need to watch out for.

If someone adds you on Facebook and sends you a personal message, is that a red flag? Everything seemed legit with him until he wanted to "begin the process". He asked how much I could contribute and I said that I didn't have much, but if could pay for everything and then take it out of my monthly salary till it's paid off then I would be willing to do that. He is not using a travel agency like others who have contacted me, but instead says that he's contacted the Embassy and they said that 1500 pounds would be necessary to process the documents. I then said that I would be willing to contribute about 200 dollars and he wanted me to send it via Western Union, which I thought to be strange. And the address he gave me was to someone in Nigeria. When I asked why that was, he said that he knew someone with connections there that could get the documents through faster. He was also very adamant about his wife not knowing about this. Has anyone gotten anything from a Mr. Brad Dennis? emails are [email protected] or [email protected].
Thanks!

We can confirm it if you can post his actual correspondence (remove your personal info) but I would already say odds are >99% that it is a scam.
-Someone else cannot get a passport and visa for you - you have to go to the embassy and do it yourself!
-1500 pounds is awfully high!
-Even the name says "scammer"-- Africans often don't recognize the difference between first (given) names and last (sur) names. The combination of 2 first names is typical scammer.
-the emails with increasing numbers are also typical scammer. Most people do not need to open multiple emails under the same name. Scammers routinely do, because their email addresses are frequently reported by victims, so they open several in sequence and when an address is closed, they simply move on to the next one.

Welcome to Scamwarners chiefsoccer91.

Dotti's advice is sound and correct. Please follow her instructions.

The fact is that online anyone can claim to be anyone, any age and from anywhere.

It is never a good idea to send any money for any reason to anyone you do not know.

Scamwarners au pair guide here

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=3019

If you have any questions or concerns please post - we will help you all we can.

Message number one:


Dear Aupair,
We are an easygoing couple with a happy, fun, and healthy kid. We saw your profile on aupair site and decided to contact you on the possibility of becoming our new family member. My contact address is 23 Swiss Gardens. Shore ham. West Sussex BN43 5WH
,We are looking for someone who likes to do their own thing and doesn't have a problem staying home, although there is a car here for you. We spend 3 months at a beach house in East London each year. We have had an aupair before and it was wonderful. Clinton our son is so much fun and this age is adorable! You will have the chance to really impact his life since he is so impressionable now. We are only interested in hiring someone who is willing to work in the UK. we shall provide fully furnished live in or live out accommodation. Write us soonest with your picture/resume, introduction and how soon you can start as we need a aupair that can start as soon as possible.the salary 3000 GBP every month and 400 GBP weekly for the upkeep of my son

and regarding the processing of your flight down here i have visited the Embassy about this and they instructed me to visit their customer service that attended to me very peacefully and she said i should forward this for you to fill name,address,nationality,date of birth and attached passport and after this is been received she will instruct me to forward to you on what to do next


We hope to hear back from you shortly

you can reply us to [email protected] or [email protected]

Brad

Message number two:

Hello Dear,
How are you and your family doing? My contact address is 23 Swiss Gardens. Shore ham. West Sussex BN43 5WH,YEs we still need your assistance i had to contact the Embassy immediately i received your email....How are you and your family???Fine i hope...well i just contacted the Embassy here not long ago about your traveling Visa/Working Permit and they made ma know that you will be needing at list 1500 Pounds for the documents to Be processed,My phone number +448717942242,we will need you for about 1-12 months or more but that's up to you and you will be having your own private Birth room and Toilet also.i tried to send you some pic but could not go through maybe later Dear.and i will like to know how many you are in your family and how old are you and your hobbies also.Your duties will be taking the kid to school and bringing him back home, play with him, go to museums, playground, watching movies, prepare/serving his snacks and foods. You will have your Private Room which will have Bathroom, Toilet, Television, Air-Conditional. You will have access to the Internet and a Telephone at home to get in touch with your friends and loved ones. You will be having Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as your off days, so to enable you have enough time for yourself. As for your salary, I will be paying you 4000 Pounds every 4 weeks and a pocket fee of 850 Pounds weekly which I suppose should be Okay by you and i will like you to get back to me as soon as possible.

ONCE AGAIN...YOU ARE WELCOME TO MY FAMILY

Hope to hear from you very soon

Brad

Yes - definitely scam!

The English is of the Nigerian variety & a quick Google search for:

Write us soonest with your picture/resume, introduction and how soon you can start as we need a aupair that can start as soon as possible

has many hits as a scam!

While we most often see the personal 44-70 numbers used by scammers, Flextel also has redirect business numbers, including 44-871 numbers, so it is possible that this is a Flextel number. It is definitely not a normal personal phone number either way.

0871 Business numbers
Each Free Business number is flexible and can also be routed to a range of international 0871 destinations, including some international mobiles, saving call costs from UK telephones and mobiles.
You can even present your number using our FNP service and save money on international calls. For details of Free number features, see the 0871 number user guide and the 0871 number international call summary page.
Free 0871 UK numbers are fully flexible and can instantly be redirected online to inbuilt voicemail, fax to email and conference services, without any call or rental charges.
Your 0871 service requires no additional equipment, you only need a valid email address and your voice messages and faxes to your Free 0871 Business number will be delivered free of charge to your email inbox. Ideal for creating a low cost virtual office.

If you are a non EU citizen then YOU would need to apply to the British Embassy/Consulate in YOUR country for a visa/work permit. It is therefore comical that he suggests that he has contacted the British Embassy in Britain. Britain doesn't have an Embassy in Britain.

I'm not educating a scammer, as their scam depends on them pretending that they can arrange a visa/work permit for you, which they can't do. If they admit the truth then the scam falls apart.

His mail is very badly written and he clearly knows nothing about Britain from the comments he makes. The grammar is also awful and the pay rise you received between mails one and two is impressive and shows that the whole thing is completely made up.

It's one of the worst written au pair scams I've seen.

Thanks SO much for your help! I really appreciate it!!

I have recieved the same e-mail from Brad Denis on Facebook. Does anyone know if we can report these people that are sending scam e-mails?