What type of craigslist babysitting scam is this? What to do?

Question

My friend put a babysitting add on craigslist. She was contacted by this "woman", set up a meeting and agreed on price, all over text. This person asked for my friends address to mail her payment (before meeting!). My friend received a check for $1,900. It cleared in her account. She didn't touch money, its just sitting there. Then the "woman" rescheduled meeting date. And asked my friend to western union some of money to some person in different state. Supposedly to pay for supplies for kids, which would be shipped to babysitting location. When my friend asked to speak over phone. She was told the "mom" didn't have calling card & that her husband would call! So some Indian/Hindu sounding man called her from an unknown number. Other weird stuff has happened. Nothing adds up. I told her to not dig herself deeper because its obvious this is bullsh*t. There's probably no woman, no kids. This person is pulling some type of scam, but I can't understand what they're trying to accomplish.

What should she do??

Answer 1

it's a money laundering scam that can land your friend in jail. Your friend needs to contact her bank ASAP and tell them to put a stop payment on the check. Then she needs to file a police report against the person who sent her the check. if she waits until the check bounces, which it will, she will owe the bank $1900. She needs to contact them immediately to stop the payment



I can guarantee the name on the check was not the name of the person she has been in touch with. Therefore she had no right to deposit that check -- it was obviously stolen



NOBODY hires a babysitter they have never met IN PERSON and certainly does not send a check upfront or ask someone to wire money through Western Union



So tell her to call her bank before it's too late, then file a police report to say that she was targeted as part of a money mule operation



This is one of the most common job scams on Craigslist

https://www.google.com/search?q=craigslist+babysitter+scam&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Answer 2

I just want to stress one point that your friend may not understand. A check has not "cleared" just because the funds show as "available" in your account. If the check is fake, the bank can demand the money back even months later, because it can take a long time for the banking system to realize the check is a fake. In fact scammers know of certain techniques to use to make it take a lot longer than a normal check.



This is why the scam works. You think the check has cleared and when the person wants some of the money back or tells you to send it to someone else, you don't suspect anything because you think nothing can happen. The scammer is counting on the victim believing the check must be good. And why do they want the money via Western Union? Because it's transferred instantly, and there is no way to get the money back, and there is no way to know where the money was claimed.

Answer 3

The good news is that she is talking to you and her other friends.



Of course it's a scam. While there are several variations, they are all the same. Here, deposit my FAKE check into your bank account and before the bank tells you it's a scam, send me some of your REAL money. I'll tell you that I had an emergency and I need to you to send me your money back via Western Union. I'll be spending it in Nigeria when the bank comes back and demands that you repay the entire amount. When naive, trusting people don't have the money, the banks turn them over to the police for money laundering.



There is no child. There is no money.



She can destroy the check. She can turn it in with the envelope to the postal inspector.

Answer 4

Your friend is a Ding-Dong for falling for this old scam.

That check is fake.

It will bounce. This can take months.

Fake check - is the scam. There is no babysitting job. Never was.

She will be out the money she wires (if she does).



Anything online is out to scam you.

Again, the entire internet is out to SCAM you.

Do not dare look for jobs on sites like Craigslist = Scams list.

If you ever need a job. Try McDonalds.com

Answer 5

Of course it's a scam.



One of the originals.



You don't have to understand what they are trying to accomplish. All you have to understand is that is will have something to do with money and/or identity. Or money laundering.



Your friend was very foolish to hand out her address - to get payment for something. Your friend was very foolish to agree to anything without meeting with person, without checking any references.



Your friend is very foolish to use Craigslist at all.



Suggest your friend call the police immediately.

Answer 6

Someone is saying they're going to show up at your house? THAT IS A SCAM!! Find an agency placing certified, experienced babysitters or nannies, or recommendation from someone you know and trust. You're looking for someone to care for your children! Not someone who says they're going to show up at your house. Hopefully you have provided no information. I'm surprised you even replied.

Answer 7

The check was fake.



Do not send the money out or spend it.



It will bounce in a couple of weeks.

Answer 8

That check is fake even if it cleared. Call the police, non emergency number.

Answer 9

100% scam.



There is no job. There is only a scammer trying to steal your hard-earned money. Shred the FAKE check and never respond to any more emails from that scammer.



The next email was from another of the scammer's fake names and free email addresses pretending to be the "secretary/assistant/accountant" and has demanded you cash a large fake check sent on a stolen UPS/FedEx billing account number and send most of the "money" via Western Union or moneygram back to the scammer posing as the "supply company" while you "keep" a small portion. When your bank realizes the check is fake and it bounces, you get the real life job of paying back the bank for the bounced check fees and all the bank's money you sent to an overseas criminal.



Western Union and moneygram do not verify anything on the form the sender fills out, not the name, not the street address, not the country, not even the gender of the receiver, it all means absolutely nothing. The clerk will not bother to check ID and will simply hand off your cash to whomever walks in the door with the MTCN# and question/answer. Neither company will tell the sender who picked up the cash, at what store location or even in what country your money walked out the door. Neither company has any kind of refund policy, money sent is money gone forever.



When you refuse to send him your cash he will send increasingly nasty and rude emails trying to convince you to go through with his scam. The scammer could also create another fake name and email address like "FBI@ gmail.com", "police_person @hotmail.com" or "investigator @yahoo.com" and send emails telling you the job is legit and you must cash the fake check and send your money to the scammer or you will face legal action. Just ignore, delete and block those email addresses. Although, reading a scammer's attempt at impersonating a law enforcement official can be extremely funny.



Now that you have responded to a scammer, you are on his 'potential sucker' list, he will try again to separate you from your cash. He will send you more emails from his other free email addresses using another of his fake names with all kinds of stories of great jobs, lottery winnings, millions in the bank and desperate, lonely, sexy singles. He will sell your email address to all his scamming buddies who will also send you dozens of fake emails all with the exact same goal, you sending them your cash via Western Union or moneygram.



You could post up the email address and the emails themselves that the scammer is using, it will help make your post more googlable for other suspicious potential victims to find when looking for information.



Do you know how to check the header of a received email? If not, you could google for information. Being able to read the header to determine the geographic location an email originated from will help you weed out the most obvious scams and scammers. Then delete and block that scammer. Don't bother to tell him that you know he is a scammer, it isn't worth your effort. He has one job in life, convincing victims to send him their hard-earned cash.



Whenever suspicious or just plain curious, google everything, website addresses, names used, companies mentioned, phone numbers given, all email addresses, even sentences from the emails as you might be unpleasantly surprised at what you find already posted online. You can also post/ask here and every scam-warner-anti-fraud-busting site you can find before taking a chance and losing money to a scammer.



6 "Rules to follow" to avoid most fake jobs:

1) Job asks you to use your personal bank account and/or open a new one.

2) Job asks you to print/mail/cash a check or money order.

3) Job asks you to use Western Union or moneygram in any capacity.

4) Job asks you to accept packages and re-ship them on to anyone.

5) Job asks you to pay visas, travel fees via Western Union or moneygram.

6) Job asks you to sign up for a credit reporting or identity verification site.



Avoiding all jobs that mention any of the above listed 'red flags' and you will miss nearly all fake jobs. Only scammers ask you to do any of the above. No. Exceptions. Ever. For any reason.



If you google "fake check cashing job", "fraud Western Union babysitting scam", "check mule moneygram scam" or something similar you will find hundreds of posts from victims and near-victims of this type of scam.