How do I know if this is legit or a scam?

Question

I posted an ad on craigslist for babysitting (In need of money..) and I got a couple replies but i'm not sure which is a scam or not. This is what the body of one of the emails I receieved looks like

"Thanks for the response and your interest in taking care of john my only son, am seeking for a reliable caregiver for my only son who presently lives with his dad in New York but he will be moving down here soon and i am a very busy woman so he will be staying with my Father in your area,you will be taking care of him from the hours of 2pm to 6pm daily,except on weekends,so i need a well experienced,God fearing and caring care giver that can understand the well being of a child to take good care of him for the week. he is a very smart and talented boy of age 6, so he will be moving down here on April 15th ,so i want you to make your self available for the hours and concerning the price,i am offering $400 for the week and additional $50 for your well being and for my son care. so i want you to get back to me so i can be assured that and additional $50 for your well being and for my son care. so i want you to get back to me so i can be assured that i have someone to take care of him for me.As regards the payment,you will be having a payment of a certified cashiers payment check that will be issued to the information you will provide.
My Client will send you over payment that will cover your upfront salary and his flight,in which you will deduct your first week payment as upfront salary and the balance will be remitted to the traveling Agent as regards of his flight schedule to be arranged. I will greatly appreciate if you will be delighted to accept this offer and as well look forward in having a better service from you.Kindly get back to me asap with the information below required...

Thus,further proceedings can take place ok.

Full Name:
Address:
State:
Zip Code:
Phone number:
Age:
Marital status:

Thanks and i hope to hear from you soon.
God bless
Linda"

Does this look legit or no? How can I tell?

Answer 1

SCAM

First of all it's illegal for any employer to ask your age or marital status

Second, NOBODY hires a babysitterr they have never met IN PERSON

Third, NOBODY pays a salary before you start

Fourth, NOBODY pays $400/week for just 4 hours a day

Fifth, you would be insane to ever give out that type of info to anyone you had not met in person at their home along with someone you trust, like a parent. Kidnappers and rapists post fake babysitting jobs knowing they attract mainly young women - and by giving your address you are potentially setting yourself up to be abducted

http://www.azfamily.com/news/Craigslist-part-of-case-involving-alleged-sexual-serial-predator-152383805.html

"Deputies said the man named and the address provided by this victim matched another sex crime case they are working, this one involving a 15-year-old girl who said she was recently raped by a man she met on Craiglist when she was seeking babysitting jobs."

http://news.legalexaminer.com/craigslist---enabler-to-sex-trade-and-crime.aspx?googleid=261516

"In 2007, a young Minnesota woman was killed responding to a Craigslist ad for a babysitting job."

http://www.wset.com/story/16927695/girls-say-job-posting-couldve-lead-to-sex-trafficking-trade

"Nowadays, it's hard enough finding a job. But, a warning now - when you apply for one, be careful. Two Liberty University students, Elyse Klink and Nicole Winter, say they applied for babysitting jobs they saw posted online, and may have come close to being caught up in the sex trafficking trade."

http://trenchreynolds.me/2013/02/08/guy-charged-with-soliciting-baby-sitter-on-craigslist-for-kiddie-porn-flick/

"This particular creeper is 22-year-old Joseph Alan Geissinger, of Muskegon, Michigan. He was arrested by his local police department for allegedly trying to solicit a 16-year-old girl through craigslist to star in a porno that he was producing. The girl had posted an ad on craigslist offering her services as a baby sitter. "

and hundreds more similar news stories



Never post a job wanted ad on Craigslist -- nobody is going to look there for a babysitter. Parents find babysitters either through other people they know who give them referrals, or they go through an agency. But they DO NOT ever hire someone they have never met who posts an ad on Craigslist. How would they know that you weren't lying about your identity and were not a convicted pedophile?



Remove your ad or you are going to have nothing but scammers and perverts targeting you



If you want to babysit, tell your neighbors that you are available and ask them if they can recommend you to any other families they know. Ask your parents to ask at their office if anyone needs a sitter

Answer 2

Here are two annswers from other: SCAM This is based out of Phillipines. It posts FAKE blogs on how people made money posting stuff on google. They initally took out $2.87 from my account and I just found out they will take out $70 something monthly. Oh and of course the 800 number stays busy so there is no way to contact them.... google money master (complaint) Posted: 2009-05-27 by Randy Hardesty taking money out of my account with out senting me the product I had a 10 free trail for I was suppose to have a 10 day free trail with gooogle money master it said wait 2 to 3 days for shipping. I never received nothing and the next thing I know 69.90 dollars is taken out of my account. I want my money back or I'm going to the BBB and the Federal Trades Commission and report...

Answer 3

It's a common scam. The first check that you deposit is fake, but it takes a couple of months for the bank to figure that out. In the mean time, the "parent" asks you to wire money to the other parent for traveling or expenses or something. That's how they make money. Later, the check that you got initially eventually bounces, and you are out the money that you sent by federal express.

Answer 4

common fake scam. lots of people complain on here about being scammed by the same scam on here. all day long.



go talk to your mom. she needs to tell you to never look for jobs online again. she needs to tell you about bad people on the internet.

a check mailed will be fake. probably for over that amount.

they will either want you to wire money back or get your checking account info.



to repeat. there is no job. there is no baby. there is no flight, etc.

Answer 5

Total scam. They're phishing for info. Next they'll send a check for more than you want and want you to send back the difference. Meanwhile the check they send is fake, and you get in trouble with your bank.

Answer 6

20hrs a week and shes willing to pay 400 + sounds a little fishy to me...and i wouldnt give personal info to someone u have never met u never know

Answer 7

100% scam.



There is no job.



There is only a scammer trying to steal your hard-earned money.



The next email will be from another of the scammer's fake names and free email addresses pretending to be the "secretary/assistant/accountant" and will demand 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 scam", "check mule moneygram scam" or something similar you will find hundreds of posts from victims and near-victims of this type of scam.