Au-Pair in the US

I received this email few weeks ago and I want to try this out, but I´m not sure if I can trust on it. Can someone help me if this is a scam?

Hopefully would someone be so kind and help me.
Thanks in advance
Jens

1)
Hello Nanny,
We are Phillip's family my husband Mr Steven Phillip
is a Philosopher.Am Mrs. Rose Phillip, am a Lawyer, i found your
address on www.Greataupair.com when searching to get an aupair for my
kids, and i want you to be my kids nanny. Let me know when you will be
available, also how long are you willing to stay in the United State.
Do you have a valid visa to travel down here. Get back to me if you
are free and interested in taking care of Joe1year 7months old and
Sarah is 4 years old. Hope to hear from you soon

Mrs Phillip
HOME ADDRESS 1650 W Olympic Blvd Street
Los Angeles,
CA 90015-3830

2)
Hello ,
Thanks for your response,i read through your mail and
i hope it will be a pleasure having you work for me.
The prime purpose for me finding an aupair is because
i have varying and lengthy work hours, but would be
very considerate to your time as well. I have just
returned back to full-time work and feel as though my
children would be best served by having a nanny or an
aupair. We are looking for someone that we can treat
as part of our family/friend and not just as a
nanny/aupair. Our Family is easy to get along with
you, we want to make you feel comfortable and at
home,,are easy going, and down to earth.
We would like our au pair/nanny to be a comfortable
care giving partner/companion/sister who is caring,
flexible, andwill have fun with our family. I would
also love our au pair to go shopping with us, go out
to eat with us, go to the movies with us, participate
in family events, go on trips with us (we love going
to amusement parks), share holidays with us,
etc.--become a part of our family. We really want
someone who will proactively talk, sing, laugh,
interact, engage with the kids We would really enjoy a
light-hearted, fun, and enthusiastic person who's
ready for a worthy experience with a young, active
family. We have an extremely supporting family here in
the area, and the children's grandparents play very
active roles in their lives.i will be paying you 500
dollars for every weekend and a pocket money of 200
dollars per week for the buying of some things for your
self the working hour is just 7 hours per day and
your responsibility in my house is just to take care
of my Kids,them on shopping ,taking them to the
school bus will pick them up from which is just 2 km
ahead from home.And also you have a private room
bathroom toilet, TV personal Computer and also if you
wish to be having free period from 5 pm to 6 pm is
acceptable We are looking forward to the opportunity
of meeting you and having you become a part of our
happy family.I will be paying you 2800dollars every
4weeks.
For your valid visa and work permit to stay in the USA? i would want you to
know a reputable agencyof ours who can help you get
your visa,work permit and other documents needed by
you at a reasonable cost and very quick. below is
there email address which you can contact them with
([email protected]) kindly get back to me
with whatever they tell you. Also,let me know anyway i
may be of help to you.I also want to know more about
you,your temperament with kids. so kindly include any
information that will be useful to me knowing more
about you in your reply.
Hope to read from you soon.
Regards,
Mrs Phillip

Welcome to the forums Jens.
Unfortunately, this looks like a scam to me.

Firstly, it starts with “Hello Nanny”. That is a dead give away. They use a term like that as they are mass mailing this scrip to hundreds of email addresses.

Secondly, they bring up the need of visa payments and give you the email address of a “reputable” company. This company doesn’t seem to exist and their email address is a free web mail account offered by mail.com.

They haven’t even asked for any more details about you before they offer you the job. I wouldn’t make the decision to hire someone to look after my kids based on a web site profile.

The language, grammar, and syntax point towards West African scammer, rather than a LA lawyer. Although the address 1650 W Olympic Blvd Street exists, it is wrong as there would be no Street after the Blvd. Also, an American would say the children’s school is 1 mile away rather than 2KM.

I’m not too sure on the pay scale of Au pairs, but $2,800 seems a little high to me.

I’m sure someone else will add something soon, but I need to get some sleep.

Good luck with the job hunting. Post/PM any offers you are unsure about.

Newdonym

Unfortunately, it is 100% scam. Nanny scams are very common these days. The truth is, these people are not in the US, and there is no nanny job. The goal is for the "travel agent" (which is really the same scammer or someone else in his network) to collect money from you for visas/permits, etc. that you will never receive..

Am Mrs. Rose Phillip, am a Lawyer

That sentence alone tells me this is a scam. Starting a sentence with "Am" is an extremely common mistake for people from the African countries, but not one any American would make. As Newdonym said, many of the errors are typical of African scammers.

As Newdonym pointed out, the address is wrong--it is either a blvd or a street, but not both. But even when I get rid of the "street" and check out the address, it is not a residential area--it is a business (yet "she" claims it is a home address.)

The pay of $700/week is not in normal range. From Nannylocators.com

Average National Nanny Salaries
Live in (average 45-50 hours - $400-$600 weekly)

Hi Jens

I had no doubt about it being a scam for all the reasons stated about plus a few more I could mention, the 2 first names, use of "am" instead of "I am"

I could go on but often the best way to show somebody it is a scam is to give another example of the same script in use, by searching on a section of script I was able to find this Click Here in a day or so this posting will also appear.

Proof that it is a scam but also proof that posting scam formats does a great deal to help others who may be unsure.

Please ask if you have any further questions or if you are unsure about any internet contact who has asked that you send money to them or someone else, if that happens, it will almost certainly be a scam.

Thank you very much for help.
"Mrs. Phillip" is still trying to get money from me but now she has to waite WAY longer..

-Jens

Thank You jens on behalf of Scamwarners for posting the information on this scammer. It will alert others.

http://www.4nannies.com/info/nanny-scams.cfm

This above site lists many scammers names, mail addresses, and other warnings about those that attempt to scam Nannies/Au pairs. I hope this will help.

Please post here anytime, we are glad to investigate and expose these fraudsters and scammers.