Scam?

I recieved this email from someone named Douglas, who sent it through universalaupair.com

Hello Jxxxx, my name is Dxxxx and I live with two children aged nine and ten and my partner xxxxx. The girl, xxxxx, is ten, the boy xxxxx is nine and he is chinese and the niece of my chinese partner xxxxx. [My partner] has to have a serious operation on the xx of May and she will not be able to to share the daily work of running a house. I am a musician and head of music at a school and I leave the house at 7.15 each day so you will need to take the children to their schools, I return around 6pm. We have bicycles and you can walk or drive. [My daughter] will mostly take herself to school and back. We can discuss this.

We live in xxxxx, SExx in a pretty semi-detached Victorian house with a small garden. London bridge station is 17mins by train so you can get into town very quickly for a night out with friends! Their are some lovely parks close by.

I will require you to cook clean wash and iron, the usual things. We have washing machine, dryer and dishwasher so not so hard! I am offering £80 a week and I would like you to start as soon as possible a little before the 9th on you profile if you find these conditions acceptable. Please send a picture of yourself.

Kind regards, Dxxxx

Is this a scam?

Hi nolan,

That email does not show any obvious evidence of being a scam, but please continue to be cautious until you can be certain.

(I will disguise their names in your post, to protect their privacy, should they be a genuine host family.)

I don't want to educate any scammers, who might be reading here, by accidentally giving them information about the au pair regulations in the UK, so I will PM some additional information to you which will help you distinguish genuine families from scammers.

In the meantime, remember that no genuine family will ask you to contact a travel agency, the UK Border Agency, or a lawyer to arrange for a visa or a work permit, nor for national insurance or tax clearance certificates, nor any other document.

No genuine family will ask you to send any money, for whatever reason, through a money transfer service (eg Western Union, MoneyGram, Coinstar/CMT), not even to yourself, or to a friend or relative.

Please never send money at the request of someone who you have 'met' online.

here's the e mail I received as a response from a family seeking an au pair

[email protected]
Dear Maria

Thanks a lot for your response, the question of how long and when to start depends on you (We hope to employ you for nothing less than 3months). I'm glad to know of your willingness to take care of my kids. I think it is necessary you have a working permit to be able to work here. For the faster and quicker processing of your working permit document and visa you would have to contact the traveling company that Helped my last au pair from Austria. They will Process your traveling document very fast and durable. You can contact the traveling company's agent at

E-mail : [email protected]
Agent Name : Mrs Donald Green (Agent)

Before that I received the following e mail

Hi Maria,

Thanks a for your response. I'm from 38 South Ave Staten Island, NY 10303. You'll be working 5 hours a day, you are to take the kids to school in the morning and later go back to pick them back home from school in the afternoon. On weekends you'll take them out to new places like beach and other recreational places (You have free time). You are required to spend time with the child, running errands, house cleaning and light cooking is a possibility, but not really a requirement. I prefer someone who will reinforce our desire to teach our children responsibilities and do not expect to undertake the children assigned tasks but instead to find ways to encourage them to complete tasks. I will be offering you 450$ per week and you will be staying with us in the house. There is free internet facilities in the house for your use, private room, bathroom and a private car for you in taking the kids to school provided you know how to drive or willing to learn driving. I have 2 lovely kids named Ashley (9years old) and James (7years old). We love adventure, arts, traveling, soccer, literature, laughter and our wonderful babies. They are very active wanting a partner to bounce and spin with them.
The family's interests include the zoo, doing yoga, soccer, water skiing, snow skiing, walks in the park, playdates with friends, the arts, literature, traveling, shopping, and our kids. You and the kids will be going for shopping once in 6weeks. Convince me that you are capable of doing this job to my satisfaction.
I will like to know if you have a working permit and a valid working Visa. I wait to read back from you.

Note: I did not have a skype ID, I will figure out how it works.Sounds strange doesn't it?

Immediately you contact the traveling company they will process the document in 14-18 Days and will be dispatched Over to your residential address. Get back to me with answers to my below questions.
How old are you?
Are you married?
What are your academics qualifications?
Do you have certificate to back up you Aupair/Nanny Career?
Do you have kid(s)?
Do you have any alergy or eating disorder?
Do you have any pet(s)?
What are your interests?
Can you send some photo?
Do you have any criminal records?
I would like to see, if possible your Curriculum Vitae (CV) or preferences. Your answers will be highly appreciated. Take a good care of yourself.

I DID NOT CONTACT THEIR FICTIVE TRAVEL AGENCY BUT I ANSWERED ALL THEIR QUESTIONS THOUGH AND SENT SOME PICTURES OF MYSELF PLUS A CV ... I shouldn't have but do I RISK ANYTHING?

Welcome coyote,

I wouldn't worry too much about the information you sent to them before learning it was a scam--in reality, thousands of people publicly post that exact same information about themselves online through sites like facebook and linked in.

You may see an increase in scams targeted at you, so just remain alert and you should be fine.