Inside a Nanny Scam

Recently I noticed an advertisement for a nanny position that seemed a little odd. The ad purported to be from an individual named Mary Lee of London, England. The requirements were fairly simple: basic English skills and knowledge of Asian affairs. The proposed salary was £850 per week, or nearly $1,300. A very attractive offer indeed.

That this was a scam was immediately clear. It is unlikely that anyone needing a nanny in London would advertise in Washington, DC. But, if they did, the requirements would be much more stringent than those listed. However, the most obvious clue was that the message was posted from an IP address, not in London, but in Nigeria. So, having uncovered this obvious scam, I did the only rational thing someone in my position would do. I applied for the job.

To be honest, I shouldn't say that I applied for the job. Rather, an identity I invented -- let's call her "Nanny X" -- applied for the job. Nanny X sent her resume showing five years of experience as a nanny on behalf of a World Bank family from Taiwan. Despite the broken English and numerous spelling and gramatical errors, Nanny X possessed a sufficient knowledge of English and an understanding of Asian affairs. In addition, a photo was requested. This was quickly obtained by searching Google Images for "drug addict" and sending in a picture of a young woman who appeared quite likely to ax murder Mary's children in their sleep.

Mary quickly replied with assurances that I was the perfect candidate and that she would immediately begin the process of obtaining my UK documents. Her two children, 6 and 8 years old, were named Brieanna and Hayleigh. Mary explained that she had recently relocated to London and required someone to care for the two kids. As she explained, she had had unfortunate experiences hiring nannies in the past -- she had paid their travel to the UK only to have them go to work for other families. Therefore, she was asking that I pay for 30% of the costs of travel and visa application.

Nanny X agreed to the arrangements and Mary sent a contract which I completed and returned. She informed me that I would be contacted by a travel agency which would arrange for my visa. Never mind that travel agencies do not issue visas for the UK, I promised my full cooperation. Sure enough, I was quickly contacted by Thom Luijben of the Travisa Travels [sic] Agency. Some quick Googling showed that not only was Travisa an authentic travel agency, but it even had a Washington, DC office. However, Thom's email address was not a Travisa address, but a Gmail address. Also, his mailing address did not correspond to any of the addresses listed on the Travisa website. Strange.

Per Thom's request, I provided a scanned copy of my passport -- obtained by searching Google Images and spending a few minutes with Photoshop. Thom had said that the fee was £800, which I asked him to bill to Mary Lee. This resulted in an email from Mary reminding me that I was supposed to pay 30% of the fee. Therefore, I should pay £300 to Thom Luijben. I suggested that I stop by the Washington, DC office of Travisa and pay the fee there. This, I was then told, would not work because Thom was in the London office. Rather, I should use Western Union to transfer the money. Strangely, I was not to transfer the money to Thom, but to someone named Michael Soyoye Olutayo. Michael Soyoye Olutayo, I suspect, is Nigerian. However, because he appears to be in London, I think he only collects money on behalf the scammers in Nigeria.

For the next several days I played dumb. I ignored the instructions to send the money by Western Union and repeatedly promised to go to the Washington office of Travisa in order to pay. Sadly, on my first attempt I arrived after the office had closed (or so I said), and had to try the next day. On that day, the agency told me they would not accept a check and I had to bring cash (again, so I said).

A sense of desperation appeared to overcome Mary and Thom as their emails arrived more frequently with reminders of the need to send the money via Western Union. Mary sent pictures of herself and the children. Unfortunately, in one of "her" pictures, she was wearing a name tag that saying, "Hello, my name is ..." with someone else's name. Mary also said she had been trying to reach me by phone but had been unsuccessful. That reminded me that the telephone number I had listed belonged to Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services.

At this point, I had planned to send a fake Western Union receipt (plenty are available on Google Images), but I got busy and stopped my correspondence. Thom and Mary's emails also stopped, so my days as a nanny applicant came to an end.

While it appears that the scammers are mostly interested in obtaining relatively small amounts of money, the information they request -- including social security numbers and passport information -- opens up the possibility of identity theft. Michael Soyoye Olutayo appears to be in London -- that's where I was supposed to send the money via Western Union -- but all of Mary's emails were sent from Nigeria. Also, sometimes I would get multiple replies to my emails. The responses would be very similar, but not exactly the same. My guess is that a number of individuals in Nigeria work together sending email on behalf of Mary and Thom. The source of Thom's emails could not be identified. Googling the names "Mary Lee" and "Thom Luijben" show that those names have been repeatedly used as part of similar scams and there are several warnings about them posted.

It is somewhat surprising that nannies are considered such a ripe target for scammers. Given the obvious nature of the scams, a significant amount of naivety would be required to fall victim. Nannies, or anyone for that matter, should remember the expression, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."