Au pair scammers (America)

I just wanted to talk about something au pair related, although I'm not an au pair anymore,  I'm still pretty involved in the community and just wanted to talk about scammers. Particularly the ones that advertise on Facebook to find au pairs to work in America.




As you all might know I was an au pair in San Francisco for almost two years, so I'm pretty familiar with all the rules and how things work. More and more I see 'families' posting in Facebook groups looking for au pairs. Most au pairs in the American groups would know these people were scammers, because what they said was too good to be true and simply illegal. Know I'm in Australia and I'm surprised that even here groups get spammed with these kind of messages.

There are certain things to look out for, for example: language. A lot of the post from so called American families have very bad English. Off course it would be possible that maybe they moved there later in life and aren't fluent. So check their profile, most of the time it says they are born there, so their level of English shouldn't be that way. I will put some examples below:

One thing I found a common spelling error is that they say USA, instead of the USA. This particular one says, very special persons, which is kind of strange English. So except for the spelling, this particular one is advertising for things an au pair is not supposed to do, like caring for an 78 year old man. Note that she says nurse, but this is posted in an Au pair group, and you can't just get a visa to be a nurse in America. Then at first it says the contract is for at least 2 years, later it is 3, which you can't do because you need to be with an agency and you can't stay more than 2 years total. Also you will be paid a set amount of $195,75 for a normal au pair. There is an extraordinaire program for when you have special qualifications and I believe you get paid $250, and there is another program where you work less hours but attend more classes where you make $146.81. This is the same for every agency, and it doesn't make a difference how many kids you watch or how many hours you work.

These two are from the same guy in different au pair groups, one in America and one in Australia. First of all if you literally write down 'smile emoticon' bells start ringing for me. Then there is also very little information and the English is a little off. I know it is probably hard to spot sometimes especially if English isn't your first language. For example he says 'send message to me' instead of 'send a message to me'. Also he writes 'your self' instead of 'yourself'. These are all common mistakes for people who don't have English as their first language, which is fine, but is also a way to find scammers.

Another one 'in USA', instead of 'in the USA'. You don't says 'respectively' in this context and 'mail' should be 'email', completely different meaning.

Then there are 'au pairs' that post in behalve of their host families. But with very little information and usually only a Yahoo or Gmail email address:

First of all there is no information about an agency, the kids or location. I have been in quite a few au pair groups when I was in America, and there are some legitimate girls helping their host families. But they always name an agency, city, tell something about the family and their experience etc. Also if you take a closer look at this one, you can see the message is send from Barcelona, Spain, while concluding from the message this girl is still with the family.

This one has no details at all, also I have spotted this girl in at least 8 different groups posting the same thing. If you check her Facebook profile there is no sign she ever was an au pair, and the Facebook account is only created a few weeks ago, which can also be a sign.

And then off course you have the people who advertise for things an au pair doesn't do. Or they offer to pay you more or less than what you are getting paid if you do this legally.

For example this one, I have seen many of these or similar ones where someone is just looking for staff. That is not the point of being an au pair, it is an exchange program where you are supposed to be part of a family. Even if this was a real host family, who would want to work/live with someone who puts up and add this un-personal?

According to the add, they are looking for an au pair. But if you keep reading it turns out they want someone to look after their old mother?! I mean, are you serious?! That is not what we do, and besides that he's only paying $150, which means he is not with an agency as there is no agency that gives that amount a pocket money.

These were some examples of how people try to scam you. Also NEVER transfer money to a family, and if they contact you and give you an email from an agency, make sure it's is a real email address. Go to the agencies website, or call them to check if the family is really with them. I know there are a lot of scammers out there who use email addresses with the agencies name in them, for example Agency@outlook.com, those are falls. I got emails from girls asking if my agency was legit and found out scammers were using the name of the agency I was with to tril girls in paying them money.

So be careful, most American host families will find you trough an agency and not Facebook. Off course there are exceptions, but you just need to have your guard up or you are at risk to get scammed.

If anyone has anything to add, or has been scammed or some other sort of advice, please leave it in the comments. If you are talking to a family and are not sure about it all, go to an au pair group and ask questions, send me an email or put your story down in the comments.