Au Pair Scam?

I have been in contact back and forth for the past ten days with a family from China. Nothing seemed suspicious to me... they said they didn't know much English, so they had an au pair agency in China translate our e-mails. Then they wanted to call me to discuss further details, so I gave them my number. They said their friend would call for them, to help translate. He called my cell phone from a Skype number and we chatted for five minutes about what the job would entail, then he said he would tell the family what I said.
After, I decided to check the IP address of the e-mails to make sure they were coming from China. The IP address said they were coming from an Amazon building in Dublin, Ireland. Later, they said their friend I talked to on the phone was the one translating the e-mails. After that the family sent me this e-mail:

Our agency is preparing for the au pair agreement. Please send us the scan copy of your passport (the page with your name and photo) and the paper to prove your address by email as soon as possible.

When I got the IP address it said "domain of (their e-mail address) designated (their IP address) as permitted sender". Could this mean the friend who translated lives in Ireland? And that's why the IP address isn't in China? I don't know what that means or if this is a scam.

Thanks

Welcome to Scamwarners, tangerine!
This sounds a lot more complicated than the usual Au Pair scam. Would you please post the email, with the headers, that you received, so that we can take a look. How did they get your name initially? Are you in a country that you would even be allowed to work in China? Also, if they don't speak English, presumably their children don't speak English either, so how will you be able to communicate with them?
This seems suspicious for many reasons, but if they are talking about any paperwork that you need that they will help you with, or want you to send money for any reason - it's definitely a scam.

They got my name from greataupair.com, then they asked me for my e-mail address and we started talking more there. They wanted me to help their daughter learn English. I did research about getting a visa for China but it was confusing, so when I talked to the guy on the phone I asked him about it, and he said the family would help me take care of it.

Ok here's the first e-mail:

Hello,
It’s very nice to receive your email! We can speak some English, but our English is not very good, so we have an au pair agency in China to help us translate and handle everything more quickly. Do you speak some Chinese?
We need au pair to come as soon as possible in December 2011 or January 2012. We hope that the au pair can stay with our family for 1 year. We are living in city of ------ in China.
First of all, we would like to see that our au pair will feel good in our family, feel comfortable, and happy, then we will also be happy. We never had an au pair before, so it’s the first time for us.
Our family is a small family: our daughter (------), my husband (------), and I (------). I know our Chinese name is difficult to read for you, no worry, we all have English names: ------ (daughter), ------ (dad), and ------ (mom). Both of ------ and I are working and very busy in ------.
Are you sure that you want to be au pair in China? Is there a special reason?
If you want to be au pair in China, for how long you want to stay with us? When can you start?
I will provide au pair free food, accommodation and pocket money. What do you expect (e.g. How much pocket per month? Anything else which you need? ...)?
Do you have your own children?
We are looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Warm regards,
------

after I spoke to their friend on the phone, they sent this:

Hello,
Our friend helped us to call you. His English is much better than ours. This email is also translated by him. He said that you would like to come to our family to become our au pair and live with us. We are very happy about it. We hope that you can arrive in January 2012. If you agree, we will let our Chinese au pair agency contact you, they will send you some documents to assist with your visa application.
We think that our English will be improved during your stay with us, and we can also help you learn Mandarin.
Say hello to your parents for us. Do you or your parents have any question? Please feel free to ask your questions.


I didn't suspect anything until I looked up their IP address and saw it was in Dublin.
(if I shouldn't post this I will delete it)
Return-Path: <------>
Received: from mproxyjp1.163.com (mproxyjp1.163.com. [176.32.85.45])
by mx.google.com with ESMTP id z4si11323094pbp.57.2011.12.22.05.23.08;
Thu, 22 Dec 2011 05:23:11 -0800 (PST)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of ------ designates 176.32.85.45 as permitted sender) client-ip=176.32.85.45;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of ------ designates 176.32.85.45 as permitted sender) smtp.mail=------; dkim=pass (test mode) [email protected]

I don't know why this e-mail address was in there: mproxyjp1.163.com , and when I typed that into Google, an Anti-Scam page in another language came up: http://anti-scam.de/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB. ... 1320371161
The post there has the same IP address as this "family".
I'm just really confused.

Thanks for your help!

Hello tangerine,

The IP address 176.32.85.45 is a 'suspected proxy server'. A proxy server hides the real IP address of the sender. Sometimes scammers use proxy servers, but non-scammers use them too - sometimes for a faster connection; sometimes because their internet café uses one; sometimes to be able to access websites in other countries. I've used one so that I can watch a news broadcast in another country ... and I've forgotten to disconnect from the proxy server afterwards, so my emails would also show a foreign IP address!

It is usual for a Chinese family to want an au pair to help improve their English, and to expose their child to English also. It is also usual for an au pair going to China to use an agency, either in their own country, or in China. There is usually a 'placement fee' required by the agency.

A scammer could pretend to be a Chinese au pair agency and steal your money, but the agency could also be 100% genuine.

As there are not definite signs of a scam yet, I'm going to remove the family's personal information from your posts. You did absolutely right to post all information, because that is the only way that we can offer help, but as we can't confirm that this is a scam, we need to allow for the possibility that this is a real and genuine family, who might be upset to find their personal details here.

The best thing to do now may be to google:

become au pair China

and research about the way to do this, so that you cannot be tricked by anyone. There is an overview here, but please research further to check its accuracy:

http://www.wikihow.com/Become-an-Au-Pair-in-China

Also google:

Chinese Embassy

and the name of your country

This is where you will need to apply for a visa, and they will be able to help you to understand the requirements.

Also, when this family puts you in touch with the agency, please post the website url of the agency, and our website experts can take a look at it and help discern whether it is genuine.

And finally: please don't send a scan of your passport to the family. It is not necessary for them to receive this.

Thank you so much for your help!

Hi again,
Their agency contacted me and this is their website: http://www.i-aupair.com/

it seems legit, I'm just double checking. The agency asked for a copy of my passport and my address in their e-mail so obviously I want to be absolutely sure before sending it.

[AlanJones]

Hello tangerine,

As you say the website appears legitimate (it has been registered since 2005). Have you checked that the emails from the agency are coming from an @i-aupair.com email address and not some free email address (you need to check where the reply goes to not where it apears the email is from - as scammers can spoof the email to look like it comes from elsewhere).

If the emails are truely coming from @i-aupair.com then I would say that it is legitimate.

Yes, the e-mails from the agency are coming from the e-mail address on the agency site.

The IP is still leading back to the Amazon building in the UK, the one where the family's e-mails are coming from... but the IP at the bottom IS in Beijing, where the agency is. Can anyone tell me what it means?

Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from mproxyjp2.163.com (mproxyjp2.163.com. [176.32.86.149])
by mx.google.com with ESMTP id e6si26321368pbd.232.2011.12.25.21.55.31;
Sun, 25 Dec 2011 21:55:33 -0800 (PST)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 176.32.86.149 as permitted sender) client-ip=176.32.86.149;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of [email protected] designates 176.32.86.149 as permitted sender) [email protected]
Received: from i-aupair ( [221.217.46.158] ) by ajax-webmail-wmsvr5

Thanks!

I know I'm being overly paranoid, I just can't figure out if it means something that the e-mails from the family and from the agency both lead back to that building in Dublin... so if anyone can help I would really appreciate it.

It could be that the agency has two different domains registerred. One for the website, and one for emails. And as Chris Fuller already mentioned, they are using a proxy. I also can't find sufficient proof of a scam, but if you don't trust the agency or the family, then you could look for another family.