#nanny scam

[grits-gal-raised-in-the-south]

According to the spare: "she was the best nanny to ever nanny...even better than those who were born to do it." 😂😉👍🏿

[queen-of-all-knowledge]

Thoughts of the almost scammed

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before on here, I have a love hate relationship with my current job.  As a simple way out if I ever needed one I started a care.com account.  Recently I received messages from an “Evelyn Parker” who was moving to my area over the summer with her 5 year old daughter, Tara.  She was looking for a nanny for Tara on the weekends and offered me $30/hour.  This seemed a bit off, but if I could talk to my boss and set up my schedule so that I didn’t work weekends I’d be making bank.  I continued the conversation.  She gave the start date for the job, but it conflicted with a trip that had been in the works for over a year. I  explained to her that I would be out of town the first weekend, but she still persisted in trying to secure my services.  She requested my mailing address for a cashiers check of the first payment upfront to ensure there would be no disappointments.  I, regrettably, obliged.  She also mentioned that she would want to interview me when she arrived, I asked her when that would be, concerned again about the vacation conflict, but she never answered the question.  As the conversation went on she mentioned that her daughter was in a wheelchair.  She then restated that the start date was to be during my already mentioned vacation.  I once again said, in what I saw as more clear terms, that I would be unable to start that weekend and that if she still wanted my services I would be happy to speak with her more.  She acknowledged that I would be gone and I let the conversation drop. 

Today, I received a check for nearly $5000 from her.  My dad did some research online and found that many people have experienced this scam, sometimes with varying names, ages, backstories and payment rates.  Thankfully, I had already decided not to take the job due to the hinky-ness of conversation and the scheduling conflict.  We contacted the local police and because I had not cashed the check there was nothing they could do.  So now here I sit with a check that I’m about to shred, the looming knowledge that I will likely receive more texts from her and a feeling of total stupidity and shame.  Looking back I wish that I had seen the red flags sooner, but as a college kid $30 an hour was a bit blinding.  I’m just thankful nothing actually happened to harm my future or myself.  

To anyone on care.com: PLEASE be careful and aware of those you talk to.  Keep your eyes open for red flags and do your best to keep yourself safe.

I will do my best to post screenshots of the texts later this weekend when I get the chance, but for now it’s off to the job that I am very much happy to have after this.  Yay for non-fraudulent money!

Please feel free to share this to spread awareness about these scams.  This is in no way against care.com, just trying to prevent others from getting hurt.