hahahaha
I just got this email from the sitter service website thing I used this summer:
"Sitters/Nannies Beware of Scams
Recently a parent by the name of Rossy Joss has sent emails to nannies and sitters that are members of major sitting websites including 4sitters.com. The person has been removed and we have reported this matter.
Do not fall victim to Nigerian scams and check fraud. Some aliases used: Rossy Joss, Mark Kennebeck, Adam James and Mark Adam are trying to defraud au pairs; nannies...
...The story often changes, but it always smells a bit like fish. In this particular case, the Nigerian scammer uses stolen credit cards, creates family accounts and poses as an American family, who sends premature "job offer" emails to hire au pairs and nannies. The scammer requests the au pair/nanny's home address so he can send a bogus check (usually $3,000 - $8,000) as a supposed advance payment...Before the check clears the au pair/nanny bank account, the Nigerian scammer sends another email stating that his wife and daughter (or twin daughters in some cases) have died in a car accident and then he requests that the au pair/nanny send him a new check as he no longer needs au pair or nanny services. His ploy is to send you a bogus check and then have you send him a good check or other form of instant payment. He will be insistent that you urgently send a new check or wire money to a bank account (with someone else's name) or send a cash payment by Western Union (to someone else's name) or other similar means. If you tell him you're not going to send him a payment, he will become instantly threatening and even hostile. He'll claim to call the FBI or the police. Don't worry, the FBI is on our side and they are already working on this case to apprehend the entire Nigerian crime ring. Just ignore the scammer's emails.
Thank you."
You mean...it was all a lie? The water skiing? The snowmobiling? The fabric production chemicals importations trade??? Say it isn't so!
But seriously, the entire thing leaves me with a few questions...it took them from July until October to figure out this was a scam? How many naive au pairs did these people rip off before anyone did anything about it?
As it turns out, she was not a robot or a murderer, but...a member of a Nigerian crime ring?? What? And why did they keep calling this a "Nigerian scam"? I'm pretty sure it's not a typically Nigerian thing to do.
Weird. That's all. Just weird.
posted by Änna @ 4:47 PM
3 Comments:
You've got to give them a lot of credit. That's one of the most elaborate and creative scams I have ever heard of. It's genious, too. They're targeting, perhaps, the most sympathetic people groups and playing off of their emotions.
The fabric production chemical importations trade should have been a clear, tell tale sign. Duh.
Hahahaha.. I'm glad you didn't get scammed, but that's really funny. And it IS a Nigerian thing, I actually learned about this in my History of Africa class. (Not that it was written into the syllabus, but the professor mentioned it.) I think they're called 919 scams or something like that.
- Emily
seriously? strange...none of the Nigerians I know
but seriously, if you cashed a check and it never cleared, and they asked for the money back, wouldn't you just tell them to put a stop payment on the check???
honestly, you have to be reeeaally gullible to actually send someone $3,000...most people who would be willing to be nannies prob don't have that much anyway
I mean I don't
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