Too good to be true!

I have been using au pair/family finding sites for the last 4 years and as mentioned in my earlier blog posting, we have been lucky to find really nice and genuine au pairs. It is very disappointing to see that not everyone using such sites is a genuine au pair and a genuine host family. There are a few unscrupulous individuals that will try to scam you. Be smart and be safe - validate everything because some schemes are elaborate involving false identities, false doctors, false travel agencies etc. Don’t be fooled by them; don’t let them to manipulate you by the lies in their e-mails and calls.

Tips that will help you to determine that your au pair/host family are genuine:

• Trust your intuition. Please use common sense and caution if you have any suspicion about a user and report it to us immediately.
• When calling an au pair/family (and we recommend that you make several calls) verify the name of the person that answers the phone to ensure it is the person that gave you the phone number. Don’t ask for them by their name and let them tell you their name.
• Verify the location of IP address for e-mails you receive to ensure that they originate from the area/country where your contact supposedly lives.
• It is recommended that you do not provide anyone any sensitive information about yourself such as your bank account number, your passport number or photocopy of your passport, and your social security number.
• Do not send cash, cheques, Western Union or MoneyGram payments to aupairs or host families!
• If someone offers you an advanced cheque/money for anything - don’t respond to them.
• If you receive a cheque - don’t cash it or deposit it.
• We review each new memeber profile daily to ensure we display only genuine users but should any of our sites members offer you pocket money/salary that seems way above the usual amount please e-mail us at info@myaupairbook.com so we can remove them from our site.
• Should any of our site users ask you to send money please ignore them and let us know their profile name and we will remove them from our site.
• If you had a bad experience with an au pair, family or agency, please e-mail us at info@myaupairbook.com

Example of classic scam e-mail:

Hello Au pair,

I saw your profile on the au pair site.
We are a British family living in London, UK. I work for Royal Dutch
(shell petroleum).A British Based Multinational Oil and Gas Company.
We currently have some kids aged 3 & 5 years old, we looking for a Au
Pair or Nanny from Any Country that can speak English and is willing
to stay with us for a minimum of 6 or 12 month(s).
About Our Family
We are a professional couple, living here in the UK .Our kids are
fairly easy going and relaxed,they would enjoy someone with lots of
energy and enthusiasm.. Having English as a first language is not
required and in fact, we would entertain the nanny speaking to them
in her own mother-tongue..
We only seek a Au pair for basic child care and light housework. If
you accept to take a position with us, you would be paid  the sum of
£1800(One thousand eight hundred pounds sterling) with a weekly
pocket money of £200. …

Anything that seems too good to be true is too good to be true!