Craigslist.com
Complaint 40712 Details

About 3 weeks ago, I responded to an ad on Craigslist about a tutoring job for a 13 year old boy who was coming to the states for 3 weeks during the holiday. The man (Larry Smith) said that he lived in Germany and in the states and that he was sending his son over with a nanny. We agreed to the terms of the tutoring sessions. He was to pay me $450 for the sessions over the course of the 3 weeks. I sent him my name, address, and phone number then I did not hear from him for 2 weeks. One night, I get a text from a strange number saying that it was Larry wanting to let me know that the check was on its way for the job we talked about and that he had trouble with his previous email address so he had to give me a new email address. He said that the check had to be deposited and I was to deduct my money for the job from the total and wire transfer the nanny the rest of the amount. I was skeptical from that point on. I asked him several questions about his son and the situation, and he answered them all. He included the “nanny’s” name, address, and phone number (a 772 area code) and the nanny had a Minnesota address (Lorie Swenson). The next day the check arrived for $1,850. He sent me an email saying to deposit it and send the money to the nanny as soon as possible because she was counting on the money for the trip over (which was supposed to be the following day). This was the day before Thanksgiving, and I was not planning on depositing the check that day or the next because the banks were closed anyway. I emailed him to tell him that it will take a few days because of the holiday. He said it was no problem but that the nanny was waiting for it. In the mean time, I looked at the check and it looked real but the information was inaccurate. The address for the supposed sender was wrong, the phone number given to me was from a different state than Minnesota, and the address for the sender of the USPS package the check came in was googled to an AT&T store. After realizing the money was not going to be sent so quickly, “Larry” sent me email claiming that the nanny called him to tell him that his son “Jerry” fell and hit his head and he needed immediate surgery and that I needed to send the cash as soon as possible because his life was in danger. He used lines like “in the name of God help me. You’re the only one who can help me.” This topped it all! I knew it was a scam at this point, and sent him to hell in my response email. DO NOT FALL INTO THIS TRAP!!! Use your instincts, and GOOGLE.