Scammers Suck

In my attempt to find a flat and a job in the UK I have been searching online. My first attempt at being a nanny led me to findaupair where I set up a profile and had several families contact me. I met some nice people and was able to skype interview with them, but decided that agreeing to live with someone over the internet was not what I wanted to do. I also decided to cancel my profile there because one "family" sent me pictures and a contract without ever interviewing me or asking for references. They offered me 950 GBP a month with room included and it sounded like a pretty sweet deal. here's a bit of the email they sent:

"We hope that you are fine. With respect to your services, your basic duties would be to take care of our kids. We have a housekeeper who undertakes the household duties and responsibilities hence, your basic responsibility is with our children. Our sons are Danny and Alex. In this email you will find attached our family pictures. In our family pictures includes I, Harry, my wife, Jackie, Danny and Alex.

Your monthly salary will be 950GBP which would be paid to you at the end of every month and 350GBP will be given to you at the middle of every month for your up-keep and this is subjected to change with respect to your approach to services in our family. We would expect our Au Pair to work about 30 hours per week as well as two nights babysitting.. You will have weekends as your off-duty days. 

We will take the responsibility of accommodating you in our home throughout the duration of your stay with us. A room in our house will be made readily available for you during the preparation of your arrival into the UK to stay with us.

 

Feel free to call anytime via my direct mobile number (+44) 704 557 8342. You can send some of your recent pictures and some important information about you e.g. *Your full name*  *Present location/Nationality*  *Current Occupation*  *Marital status*  *Your likes and dislikes*  *Your hobbies*  * Your Mobile Number For Easy Contact *  to enable us to prepare an Invitation/Offer Letter for you with the help of our family lawyer. We wish you a very happy and fulfilling day ahead."

Sounds pretty great, right? but then in the next email they sent along a contract that i needed to sign and fill out with my personal info "for their lawyer."

Another place I've been getting scammed is in the real-estate section of craigslist. If it sounds too good to be true then I promise it is. Like the 3 bedroom manhattan apartment for $1,000 I found. Yeah, not real.

Ways to tell if it's a scam: 

1.The ad on the website has a very low price for a really nice place.

2. The person e-mails you back very quickly

3. The email seems like it has been copy and pasted over and over

4. They say they are a doctor or a diplomat or someone of high standing

5. They ask you to sign a contract or send money 

6. The pictures are really awesome 

7. the email address of the person doesn't match their name

8. The grammar isn't very good

9. They don't want to know more about you before offering you a job.

10.  they delete their account or advertisement (or it was deleted for them)

Check out this website for more scam info