scammed nanny

Hi all,

These days been a stormy days for me. I just get spammed with money about 1000 US$ being lost. I want to know what do you think I should do next. Well, I've been asked to send money via western union twice and I believe they want me to send money again (latest email said so). But I just reply that I won't. Is it going to be bad/good? Will they try to scare me in this situation? The scammer claim that they are a family from UK who seek expertise to me to become their children's nanny. Eventough a bit different but the same way. It's just I believe I'm being careless because I never thought scammers exist in a reputable nanny seeker website. Please Help me on this matter.......

From the miserable nanny

Hi Vyasha.

I'm sorry to hear that you've been scammed.

The first thing to tell you is that you're in absolutely no physical danger. The scammer will almost certainly be in West Africa (not the UK as he claims) and will have no interest in paying you a visit or sending anyone around to see you. All he's interested in is your money and once you look like you're not going to pay him, he will simply move onto looking for other victims with that particular scam.

The first thing you should do is tell him that you know it's a scam and then block him from all of your email addresses. Just say "I know this is a sam. Do not contact me again". Nothing else.

If it's possible, go and get a new email address and get rid of the one(s) he's been contacting you through. Be very, very wary of where you leave your new address on the internet - no guestbooks or forums, just give it to people you know well.

If changing your email is not possible then you need to become aware of how these scammers operate. It is likely that this scammer may try what we call a "Money Recovery Scam" as his next attempt to steal from you. There is a section in these forums that deals with recovery scams and you should go and give it a thorough read.

Unfortunately, your money is almost certainly lost and you will never see it again. You could try reporting the scam to your local police. Take all of the emails that you have sent to the scammer and that he has sent to you to the station.

Hi Vyasha,

Sorry to hear about what has happened to you, there have been a few stories like yours posted here recently with much the same outcome.

While you are here, please look around and have a read through some of the different types of scams, it should help you to avoid scammers in the future.