What to do next?

These days been a stormy days for me. I just get scammed 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, and they're using a travel agent to help make the process faster. Eventhough a bit different from the usual pattern but the in the end it's the same way. 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, what you describe is very typical of how the scammers format operates, sadly, au pair & nanny scams are very common, see these links to that sort of scam on Google:

Au Pair & Nanny Scams

Please post the initial email you received from the scammer, and please include the full email headers so that we can check the IP address to see which country the scammer is emailing you from, also post any email addresses and phone numbers they have given you.

Hi Vyasha,
Sorry to hear you have been scammed.

The 1st thing to do is to cease contact with these people. If necessary you should be able to block their email address.
Do not worry if you receive any threats from them.
Although it is not nice to receive threats, and can be a bit scarey, these people are very very unlikely ever to carry them out.

As Scam Patroller says, if you can post the whole email, including the header (there is usually a button or link that says "show header") we can find out what country they are really from.

These scammers are really quite lazy. They are after quick and easy money.

Then, review the information you have sent them. If you have sent any bank details or the like, then contact your bank for advice.

Any questions, just post here and we will do what we can.

From Davies Mark Sun Mar 16 07:41:17 2008
X-Apparently-To: .........via 68.142.207.234; Sun, 16 Mar 2008 07:43:36 -0700
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From: "Davies Mark" <davies> Add Mobile Alert
Subject: Aupair needed for my daughter
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 07:41:17 -0700
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 16 Mar 2008 14:41:17.0510 (UTC)

Hello Au pair,
I Will be pleased to have you work as an aupair for my daughter.I am a single parent (resident in the United Kingdom) as i lost my wife some years back.I have been moving on since then with my only daughter Jenny but my job commitment is much.I will appreciate you get back to me to signify your interest and how soon you can make it here.

Kindly get back to me ASAP so that arrangements can be finalized about when to expect you

Here's from the 'so called agency'
X-Apparently-To: [email protected] via 68.142.207.230; Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:25:04 -0700
X-YahooFilteredBulk: 207.217.120.47
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Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:24:57 -0800 (GMT-08:00)
From: "Word Travel Agents" <travelvisa> Add Mobile Alert
Reply-to: Word Travel Agents <travelvisa>
To: [email protected]
Subject: ***REQUIREMENTS FOR NON-IMMIGRANT VISA TO THE UNITED KINGDOM***
X-Originating-IP: 209.179.142.19


Dear ...........,
WTA Management wishes to thank you for contacting us regarding the arrangement of your Traveling Documents to the United Kingdom. We promise to Offer you the best which you will be Glad you did. It was Indicated in your E-mail that you have been told by your Host Family who asked you to contact us. We promise never to disappoint you as we have never disappointed her either. We would request that you provide us with the following so that the documentation will start immediately. We would get your visa within a week as soon as we receive the information from you .

- Full Name :

-Postal Address

-Mailing Address

-Phone Number

-Nationality :

-Passport Photo page

-Passport Number

-Consulate of the United Kingdom (British Embassy) Address In your Location (If available)

-A Total of £ 800.00 Pounds to enable us process the necessary Documents for the visa,work permit for you to Travel down here to U.K, Flight ticket and all other neccesarry documents as well.
Type of visacharge Validity Term of issue Consular fee
Single entry 12 month 3 days £ 350.00

Single entry 14 months 5 days £ 450.00

Single entry 18 months 7 days £ 600.00


All Documents will be processed and arranged here in our Office after which will be forwarded to the British Embassy along with your Flight Ticket. Also,some Copies of this Document(s) will also be sent to you. We will like you to find with this E-mail a Copy of the U.K Visa Form which you are going to fill and get it back to us with a scanned copy of your recent Passport Photo.

We will begin in earnest once we receive all necessary Details.

In anticipation of your response

Yours Faithfully,
Word Travels Agents

Copyright 2007 WORD TRAVELS AGENT, INC. All Rights Reserved.
Terms & Conditions|Website Terms & Conditions | WTA Travel Club Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Careers
68 Lombard Street London, EC3V 9LJ United Kingdom.,+44 703 191 2264,Contact mail Address:[email protected],[email protected]

Can you please tell me how to see where it's originated, since I'm not common in this area, but I really want to learn so I could be prepared in the future

Cheers

Here's the number of Mr. Davies Mark
(44) 447031979779,(44) 7024017861, (44) 7024012870

How's western union work anyway? If you collect it you'll need a legit ID?

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Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:41:18 +0100 (GMT+01:00)
From: "Word Travel Agents" <travelvisa> Add Mobile Alert
Reply-to: Word Travel Agents <travelvisa>
To: "fumika ikeda" <yahoo>
Subject: ***AWAITING YOUR DETAILS AND PAYMENT***
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Dear .......,
WTA acknowledges your mail.The fees included in the payment due to you includes a One-Way Flight Ticket (note: not round trip),Working Permit and Medical insurance. Moreover, we request that you make the information requested from you in our earlier email to you in addition to the payment for your travel papers available to us forthwith.
Upon completion of your visa application,the visa and other travel documents will be sent to your location or the prefered address where you want it sent to via FedEx Redstar Coporation.The money is payable via Western Union Money Transer. Hence,you are to send the money to our Accounting Officer at our Cash office using Western Union Money Transfer through the information below:

Cashier's Name: MARTIN YOUNG
Address: 68 Lombard Street,
City: London
State: London
Zip Code: EC3V 9LJ
Country: United Kingdom.

Advice when the money is sent by providing the following details:

- Sender's name and Address

-Money Transfer Control Number

-Total amount sent

Your information and visa fees is being expected so that your application can recieve the necessary attention promptly.

Sincerely,


Word Travels Agents

UNfortunately I have sent the money & my passport photo page. My fear is they could do something with the scanned passport photo. What do you think I should do next? Need help, please.....

Regarding your passport scan, you can get some good advice about what to do, and about ID theft in general, from www.fraudaid.com
Unfortunately even if it's not used for ID theft, the scammers may use your passport scan to scam others, either using your name or altering it, but I'm afraid there's not much you can do about that.

Thanks for posting the headers.
They all show that the scammer is in Nigeria. The phone numbers are "redirect" numbers - although they appear to be in the UK, they can be redirected to anywhere in the world - in this case Nigeria. This applies to any numbers starting +4470
Edited to add, if you post the complete header here, the last country given in the result is usually the originating country, though sometimes it can be confusing if the email is routed through a satellite link. For example, often if it says Israel, it usually means West Africa.

As for Western Union, it's most likely that the money is collected using fake IDs, or it may be an innocent, or not so innocent, third party (a mule) who is asked to collect it.

So it means that they might have big organization right? I mean there's some people who act as a 'seducer' but there's also some other to collect the money in the other country. Has there ever been caught on organization like this?
For Benjamin, I will try to see the web u advice me to see next monday. Because now I'm on my way explaining to my family what just happened to me. Nothing really easy this past few months for me. Haaahhh, life goes on I guess.
Thanks a lot for your advices.
Have a wonderful weekend & Cheers

Hi Vyasha,

One thing you need to watch out for is someone emailing you offering to recover any money you have lost. This may appear to be from a government agency or a barrister.

DO NOT reply to it, but post it here for advice. It will almost certainly be an attempt by the same scammer(s) to try and get more money out of you.

I hate to say it, but I guess you already realise, that the money you have sent needs to be considered lost and put down to experience. Just watch out for a "recovery" scam. These people are totally without any morals and we have all seen examples of them encouraging victims to steal the money from sick relatives or churches in order to pay what is supposed to be the last fees. We have yet to find the lowest level they will stoop to.