Vicky James - [email protected]

[Chris Fuller]

This scam mail is identical to one sent by the scammer calling themself Lina Brown. You can see this here:

Lina Brown

From: Vicky James <[email protected]>
Subject: in needed of a nanny

Hi dear, I am Mrs Vicky James, 35 Years Old from United State of America. Am writing you on behalf of the whole family (me, my husband and our 2 child) and here is a bit about us. Our family do not like to judge a book by the cover or take gossip to determine who will be around. We always try to stay positive and find the best in anyone or any situation including the worst ones. I work as a sales manager for walmart. Due to the nature of my work, am not always around. I will thereby be in need of your service as a nanny for my kids. I will appreciate your response to know if you are interested.
Thanks
Vicky

[Chris Fuller]

Here are more emails, and stolen photographs, from this scammer.

From: Vicky James [email protected]

Thanks a for your response. I'm from 32 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, play dates 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

These photos sent by this scammer are also used when the scammer is pretending to be other host families. You can see this here:

Dany Smith
Susan Brown
Lina Brown and Kim Collins







The travelling company, Planet Travel Tours, is also fake, and is part of the scam.

If you are looking for an au pair position in the USA, please read the real regulations for the US Au Pair Program:

http://exchanges.state.gov/jexchanges/p ... upair.html

http://j1visa.state.gov/participants/how-to-apply/

Do not send money to any agency, embassy, lawyer, or other person introduced to you by a potential host family.

From: Vicky James <[email protected]>

Dear
Thanks a lot for your message. I'm glad to know of your quality and willingness to take care of my children. 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 Cindy Leon (Agent)
Immediately you contact the traveling company they will process the document in 14-18 Days and will be dispatched over to your residential address. They will also book an appointment for you at the embassy in which you will be instructed to take the document send to you there with your passport for your working visa stamp. 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)?
When do you wish to start and for how long?
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 references. Your answers will be highly appreciated. Take a good care of yourself

[Chris Fuller]

From: [email protected]
Reply-to: Planet Travel Tours <[email protected]>
Subject: Dear Applicant,

Dear Applicant,


Thanks for the message you sent to us. We really appreciate your effort concerning working with your host family . Your category of the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program (DS-2019) allows you as a caring live-in childcare provider between the ages of 18 and 35 to live as an extended member of your host family in exchange for room, board, and a stipend. Whilst the main priority of a successful applicant will be to take care of the kids, you should also have free time to enjoy life in the U.S.
For processing of your J-1 Exchange Visitor Program and Working Permit, We will like to have some information about you so as for us to start with the processing. You will have to get back to us with the below information so as for us to go ahead with your visa application.There won't be problem processing your Traveling Document. Below are the information's you will have to provide to us :


1. Your Full Name
2. Your Full Address
3. City
4. State
5. Zip code
6. Country
7. Phone Number
8. Sex
9. Date of Birth (D.O.B)
10. E-mail address
11. E-mail address of your Host Family
12. Full Name of your Host Family
13. Scan Copy of your Certificate of Birth
14. Full Home address of your Host Family


Get Back to us with the above Information's for further processing of your Working Permit and your J-1 Exchange Visitor Program Visa. This will take us up to 20 days at maximum efficient. Delays depend on you and your host family. We are looking forward for your quick response.


Thanks


Best Regards


Planet Travel Tours


Mrs Cindy Leon (Agent).

[Chris Fuller]

The following sequence of emails from the fake host family and the fake travel agency is designed to convince the au pair that both the family and the travel agency are real, and that they both going to a lot of effort to make the au pair's arrival possible.

In reality, the same scammer is writing both the emails from Vicky James and the emails from Planet Travel Tours, and isn't doing anything - except sending out these scam mails and hoping that they will result in the au pair sending money for the scammer to steal.

From: Planet Travel Tours <[email protected]>

Attention:

DIRECT FROM THE BOARD MEMBER OF THE PLANET TRAVEL TOURS

We hereby inform you that your information's have been forwarded to your Host Family (VICKY JAMES ) for a proper invitation letter, employment letter and contract agreement from the Local Government Area in the City of your Host Family (VICKY JAMES ).

Once we read back from your host family we make sure proper verification will be carried out and the processing of your J-1 Traveling Document will proceed.

Thanks

Best Regards

planet travel tours

Mrs Cindy Leon (Agent).

From: Vicky James <[email protected]>

I receive an email from the agency. They need me send this 1) letter of employment, 2) invitation letter and the 3) contract agreement. Hopefully, I should be able to get all this across to them today. I can only go through a bit of stress getting the invitation letter at the local government office. But I will try my best getting it today and if not, then I get it tomorrow and send it across to them. I will get back to you immediately I get it send over to them.

I woke up early this morning because I need to get some laundry done before going to work. How is your week going. Wishing you a blessed one. Take a good care.

From: Vicky James <[email protected]>

Hello

It was a very busy day for me, ain't new because am use to it. Just like I promise, I have send across all the document to the agency. I hope they receive it and find it correct. Am waiting on them to write back with what else we need to provide. I will notify you in case of any news from them. Have a sweet dream.

From: Planet Travel Tours <[email protected]>

DIRECT FROM THE BOARD MEMBER OF THE PLANET TRAVEL TOURS .

We use this medium and avenue to inform you as we progress in the processing of your document. Your host family has been charged a sum of $131.00 (One Hundred and Thirty One US Dollars) for your (J-1 Exchange Visitor Program (DS-2019) application form. We will apprise you once the payment is made by your host family.

Thanks

Best Regards

planet travel tours

Mrs Cindy Leon (Agent).

From: Vicky James <[email protected]>

hello good morning how are you doing Do you read from the agency? I read from them saying they have all necessary information now and that I need to pay for your application form. I understand I need to get this done as soon as possible, but have to wait till after I get off work today before I make the payment. I will feed you back as soon as am done with the payment.

From: Vicky James <[email protected]>

The agency confirmed my payment for your application form. I think they also have make some changes to the contract agreement, so they send back to me so that I can sign it. I have sign it and send it back to them. I hope they send it to you soon so that you can sign as well.thanks hope to hear from you soon

From: Planet Travel Tours <[email protected]>

Attention:

DIRECT FROM THE BOARD MEMBER OF THE PLANET TRAVEL TOURS .

This email include your work contract. It has been signed by your Host family. We thereby want you to sign it and re-send back to us.

Note: When signing the work contract, your signature must be similar to the one on your passport.
Inform us in case there is a part of it that you did not agree with.

Thanks

Best Regards

Planet Travel Tours

Mrs Cindy Leon (Agent).

Attached AGREEMENT.pdf reads:

Mrs Vicky James
32 South Ave,
Staten Island, NY
10303, USA.
[email protected]

[Au Pair's name and address removed]

CONTRACT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE ABOVE PARTIES

This contract between the hiring family: Vicky James and the child care provider xxxxx xxxxx shall be
in force from the date of signature of both parties.

Family and Aupair hereby agree to an employment commitment unless Aupair is terminated for cause.
Both parties agree to a give at least two (2) weeks’ notice before job termination unless Aupair is
terminated for cause. Although this agreement outlines the key duties of the Aupair, it is not all-
inclusive and from time to time the Aupair may be asked to perform additional duties that contribute to
the safety and well being of the children.

Names of children and ages: James (7 years) and Ashley (9 years)

Duties:

Sole responsibility for the children of the family including preparing meals and feeding the
children a healthy diet, their laundry, taking them to suitable social activities/groups, their
physical and intellectual development and pre-school and school education, keeping their
rooms and play areas tidy, organizing and undertaking any visits to doctors, dentists, child
health clinics and such other duties as an aupair would undertake.

Employee is entitled to:

Private Room with toilet and Bathroom
Meals
Use of car
Petrol costs
Mileage

REMUNERATION

Employee salary is $450 per week payable weekly/monthly in arrears by standing order/cheque
on every Saturday of every Week. Employer will pay all tax and national insurance
contributions.

HOURS OF WORK

The employee will work from 7am to 5pm. 6days per week. Employee will remain with the
children of the family if employer cannot return before 5pm. Employer must use reasonable
endeavour’s to return before 5pm. These hours of work may only be changed by mutual
agreement.

Employee will be allowed 6 weeks paid holiday each year. In the first or last years of
employment employee will be entitled to holiday on a pro-rata basis. Paid compensation is not
normally given for holidays not actually taken. Holidays may only be carried into next year with
the express permission of employer. Employee will be free on all Public Holidays or will receive
a day off in lieu, by agreement.

Holidays will (unless otherwise agreed) be taken when the employer is on holiday. Employee
should give at least 1 months notice for blocks of holiday exceeding 3 days and as much notice
as possible otherwise and holidays may only be taken at times that are agreed by both party.

CONFIDENTIALITY
It is a condition of employment that now and at all times in the future that, save as may be
lawfully required the employee shall keep the affairs and concerns of the employer and the
household, its transactions and business confidential.

ALLOWANCES

A Shopping allowance of $120 would be awarded to employee First Sunday of Every 2 Month.

A Christmas Bonus of $250 would also be awarded on 23rd of December of every Year.

PENSIONS

No pension scheme.

SICKNESS

The employer will shoulder statutory sick pay as stipulated by the Government at the rates
stipulated by legislation. Any additional sickness payment will be made at the discretion of the
employer. Employee will notify employer as soon as possible of any illness preventing employee
from efficiency to work and no later than 12.00 noon on the day in question.

DISCIPLINE

Reasons which might give rise to the need for discipline measures include the following:
Causing a disruptive influence in the household
Job incompetence
Unsatisfactory standard of dress or appearance
Conduct during or outside working hours prejudicial to the interest or reputation of the
employer
Failure to comply with instructions and procedures, for example being unable to drive due to a
driving ban
Breach of confidentiality clause
In the event of the need to take disciplinary action, the procedure will be: Firstly - oral warning;
secondly - written warning; thirdly - dismissal.
Reasons which might give rise to summary dismissal include the following: theft, drunkenness,
illegal drug abuse, child abuse, acting unsafely with children.

TERMINATION

After four weeks continuous service either employee or employer may terminate this contract
by giving two weeks’ notice and after six months continuous service either employer or
employee may terminate this contract by giving a week notice.

ADDITIONAL ITEMS:

Smoking is not permitted in the house or near the children of the family.
Employee may use the telephone for reasonable local calls and, in an emergency, for national
calls.
During working hours employee will not look after any children other than the children of the
family without employer’s consent.

Lastly, employee would be allowed to apply for a Part-time job as long as it does not affect or
disrupt your contract with employer.

SIGNED BY EMPLOYER (Jame’s Family)


……………………………………
SIGNED BY EMPLOYEE (xxxxx xxxxx)


………………………………

[Chris Fuller]

More emails from the fake agency and the fake Vicky James:

From: Planet Travel Tours <[email protected]>

Attention:

For the immediate commencement on procurement/Monitoring of your
Work and residence permits with the immigration services as well as
local representative services you are to provide via email the
following;

(1) Letter of authority, duly signed stating that Planet Travel
Tours Agent and their authorized representatives have been
given the authority to procure immigration papers on your behalf
as well as act as local representatives for purposes of liaison
requiring the activities of a local representative. This functions
should cover:

a) Contract processing functions(Signing and receiving of Hard copy of
contract document from your Employer on your behalf)
b) Travel document procurement/Monitoring on your behalf with the
Planet Travel Tours
Letter of authority to be sent to Planet Travel Tours, should
be two copies each referring specifically to
1. Employer or their agents/associates
2. Ministry of internal Affairs/Planet Travel Tours

ii) Adequate contact information/address suitable for receiving
courier(not P.O.Box), as documents will be sent to you via DHL (this
may be sent via email) All documents sent by fax or attached word
document via e-mail should be addressed-to: Planet Travel Tours
;External Operations/Services Department.

Also required (not immediately) will be the provision of Banking
coordinates/information including SWIFT code for the purpose of
receiving your entitlements/emoluments which we will forward to
employer before commencement and also help facilitate early payments.

For the commencement of travel document procurement/Signing and
receiving of hard copy of your contract document on your behalf from
your employer,and the various couriers to be sent to you during the
process, you will be required to pay an Administrative/Courier charges
of $480 (Four Hundred and Eighty Dollars Only) on commencement of
processes which also covers for the cost of: Using our professional
services/Consultancy and also for courier of all your documents to you
including necessary immigration papers.

You will be reimburse averagely if you did not use up to 12months but
more than 6months. While you will be reimburse totally if you did not
use up to 6months.

Insurance: Your host family must pay a health insurance for you as an
au pair. It is advisable that you as the au pair effects an accident
insurance and a third party insurance for your stay. This Insurance
charge will be billed on your host family amounted to ($500) per annum

Also note that hard copy of your contract documents and immigration
papers shall be couriered to you in not more than 7 Working days from
date of receipt of stipulated charges.

Additionally Your Invitation Letter has been received from your Host
Family which is duly signed, stamped and authentic.

The necessary receipts will be sent to you along with the couriered
documents/including immigration papers. You are expected to pay
charges via Western Union Money Transfer. Below is Our Western Union
Official Information:

Name: Mxxxx Wxxxx

Address: xx E Bxxxx ave.

City: Greenwood

State: Indiana

Zip code: 46989

Country: USA

Immediately you send the Money, get Back to us with the below information's:

Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN):

Sender's First Name:

Sender's Second Name:

Amount:


Note: We receive money using Western Union Money Transfer only. Your urgent payment will be highly appreciated for faster and quicker processing.
A unique pin code shall be send to your mobile number. Which will later be useful after making appointment for you at the embassy.
Get back to us as soon as possible.

Thanks

Best Regards,

Planet Travel Tours

Mrs Cindy Leon (Agent).

From: Vicky James <[email protected]>

Hi dear,

How are you today dear. I receive a very long email from them which I did not understand all part of it. I write back to them for better explanation. Now they have explain better and that was why am just writing you now.
In the first place, they said letter of authority is need, at the same time, they will be the one to prepare this letter not me neither you. We are only required to do 3 things.
1). For any immigrant coming to the states, assurance of good health is a must. Thus, I was told to pay $500 for your health insurance.
2). They said they need my statement of account, this is to certify a prompt payment of your wages without any problem. In case I fail to pay you. They can go direct to my bank account and deduct your wages to pay you.
3). You are require to pay administrative courier charge for shipment of your document and it amounted to $480.
Hopefully, I will make the transfer for your health insurance by Tuesday after work. I have contact my bank, they let me know it will take 24hours for them to get my statement of account counting from the time i requested for it. Therefore, tomorrow everything will be set (finger cross). I also hope you don't have problem making the transfer charge and also i we like to tell you this as your host family i we be the one to pay for your flight so i we like you to get back to me with this details below so that i can work on your flight your full name your date of birth the day you want to take off and the name of the airport you we take off also so try and get back to me with all this soon. ?. Hope to read back from you soon.

[alexpap]

I just hate this woman, she seemed to be so nice it is a pity I didnt know about this page before I payed them 480$. After they sent me an email asking for 1700$ it started to be suspicious. She was even so nice that she offered to pay half.

[Chris Fuller]

Hello alexpap, I'm so sorry to hear that you had your money stolen by this scammer. As you discovered, after a scammer steals some money from you, they will usually try to steal some more. And some more again after that.

Scammers are heartless criminals, and only pretend to be nice so that you will feel comfortable about them, and willing to send the money. Au pair scammers often pretend to 'help' you with the payments. In reality, of course, they are not sharing the costs at all, because there are no costs - the fees are invented, and the travel agency or lawyer or immigration agency, etc is also fake, and is part of the scam.

[alexpap]

Hey, I know, I feel so stupid that I payed them so much money, I should have been smarter! I keep thinking how to get my money back but because my payment was already picked up I guess I can not do anything. What about all the names we were given to send the money to? Can we contact police to check it out? They must be real people because I guess to pick up money fro WU you have to have an ID or something to prove your identity, right?

[began steele]

I am sorry not. They are away and out of reach in Africa. None of the names are real. These Western Union transfers are no more secure or better than leaving money on a street corner in Lagos or Dakar. Police aren't interested in less than $millions. You can do nothing except ensuring others are not caught out. Posting here is a great way to do that.

[Chris Fuller]

To expand upon what began steele has said, there are several ways in which a scammer can collect a Western Union or MoneyGram payment. Here are some examples:

- Using the MTCN and other information on the receipt as 'proof of ID', the scammer may be able to get the receiver's name changed, or the collection location changed.

- They may collect the transfer using a fake ID.

- The person collecting the transfer may be the victim of another scam, who believes that s/he has a genuine job collecting payments for a business company.

Certainly you can contact the police to report this crime, and you can contact Western Union also, and they may be able to give you details of when and where the money was collected. But, as began steele says, there may be a false name and a fake ID involved, and it is not very likely that someone can trace the real person who collected the money, especially as this will have happened in another country - and your own country's police may not have the resources to prioritize this for any investigation.

[alexpap]

So today I got a call from the Planet travel tour to ask me when I am planning on paying 1700$ they asked me to pay before!!! I cant believe it!!! You were right, the guy on the phone was an African American for sure according the accent!!! I contacted my friend in New York to ask wether I can do something about it because the call was made from New York. Will see.

[Chris Fuller]

Sometimes scammers can have a friend or relative in another country who is willing to make a phone call for them, pretending to be the host family, or the travel agent or immigration department, etc. Other times, though, the West African scammer uses a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) or other type of redirect number, which means that his 'USA telephone number' is actually accessed from the PC or mobile phone which he is using in West Africa.

Sometimes scammers pretend to come from a non-English-speaking country as an 'excuse' for their unexpected accent on the phone - you can see an example here:

Hendrick Jörgen

Other times, they just hope that you can't identify accents anyway.

[rbb81]

hello:
i am very surprised and sad about i am reading! i am being victim of a scan! please, can anyone help me please??? oh my god! it´s everything exactly the same that i have now!! i am from spain. help me please.
Mod edit: took out unnecessary quote. DJ

[cutelilly]

Hi rbb81,

if you are in contact with the scammer, the best choice is to drop contacts asap. Do not confront him, do not tell him you know he is scammer, do not tell him about ScamWarners.

If you ever sent money to the scammer, it is extremely unprobable that you can retrieve them (especially if you sent via Western Union, or MoneyGram).

If you have given him sensitive details like bank account, credit card number, etc. you should contact your bank asap (anti-fraud department).

You can report to the police: in most cases they will not be able to recover money (in case you lost some, especially if sent via Western Union or MoneyGram), but this can potentially increase their awareness toward this kind of crime.

You can post emails from the scammer (possibly with headers), with your details removed.

[rbb81]

hello cutelilly:

yes, i sent money, like a stupid man. i didnt give him my bank account, but i sent him a scanned copy of my driving license. what can i do? i go to the police now...
Mod edit: Took out unnecessary quote. DJ