Daycare.com Forum
Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Interesting Email
sharlan 08:22 PM 06-12-2011
I just got a mass email that was sent to 27 daycare providers from a guy in Hong Kong, wanting child care in August.
I'm pretty sure it's going to be some kind of scam, but not sure what kind.
I'm pretty sure it's going to be some kind of scam, but not sure what kind.
SilverSabre25 09:01 PM 06-12-2011
yeah probably a scam. wanna post the email? now I'm curious 
sharlan 09:29 PM 06-12-2011
I'm not posting all of the email addresses, just the email. Any ad I post lists my hours and days.
Hi,
My name is Greg Mason and my wife's name is Jenny Mason we are both busy parents, we are blessed with 2 Children 1 boy and 1 girl, the boy's name is James 7 years old and the girl's name is Mary 3years and six months old.
We are relocating to your city , I want our little Daughter to enroll in your day-care as soon as we arrive there on 5th of August. Let me know what time your day care opens in the morning and what time is the closing hour, how many days a week does your day care work?
and what is your price per hour?
NOTE: PLEASE I NEED YOUR AREA ZIP CODE TO BE SURE THAT YOUR DAY CARE CENTER IS NOT FAR FROM US.
Thanks
Hi,
My name is Greg Mason and my wife's name is Jenny Mason we are both busy parents, we are blessed with 2 Children 1 boy and 1 girl, the boy's name is James 7 years old and the girl's name is Mary 3years and six months old.
We are relocating to your city , I want our little Daughter to enroll in your day-care as soon as we arrive there on 5th of August. Let me know what time your day care opens in the morning and what time is the closing hour, how many days a week does your day care work?
and what is your price per hour?
NOTE: PLEASE I NEED YOUR AREA ZIP CODE TO BE SURE THAT YOUR DAY CARE CENTER IS NOT FAR FROM US.
Thanks
Michael 01:06 AM 06-13-2011
Not sure this is a scam. Ask for more details of their children. I would not give out your information until you are certain they are legit.
blueclouds29 04:43 AM 06-13-2011
I had the same thing last summer from a single dad from (i don't remember what country) with a young girl the same age as my dd. Off Craigslist. Every time i emailed him specific question on times, dates or about his daughter he would go around it. After many emails we declared it was a scam. This went on for a couple of days with out real details just that he was coming on such a such date to meet with me but never a date or my address was asked or given.
It was scary.
Good Luck, use your judgement!
It was scary.
Good Luck, use your judgement!
laundrymom 04:47 AM 06-13-2011
Probably is a scam, just email that you would love to meet his kids and to email when he is in country and you can meet then. Then forget it.
momofboys 05:47 AM 06-13-2011
It is definitely a scam. It's probably the money order or a check scam where they want to pay you upfront for services without even caring for the child yet. Of course they will send you an amount over & above what they owe you. So they will want YOU to return the "extra" money to them. YOu think this is okay b/c the check appears to have cleared. Then 4-5 days later your bank will determine it is not a legit check & will remove the $$ from your account. Not good! Run!
SilverSabre25 05:48 AM 06-13-2011
I'd have to vote scam. I've seen very, very similar emails several times.
melskids 06:31 AM 06-13-2011
i get them all the time...whenever i post on craigslist
blueclouds29 08:52 AM 06-13-2011
Oh I remember he was going to send me a check and i was to cash it BUT there was going to be more money on it to send to his company or something. It was crazy.. i ended up getting a check but it was not real. You have to be VERY CAREFUL with these thing or else you get scammed and out of money if you believe them!!
sharlan 09:14 AM 06-13-2011
When I saw how many people the email was sent to, I didn't respond, just hit the delete button.
Zoe 09:29 AM 06-13-2011
What got to me was that he said he was relocating to your city, yet still asked for the zip code. To me, that's sketchy, even if a city has multiple zip codes. I'm glad you deleted it.
Sugar Magnolia 09:52 AM 06-13-2011
...of Craigslist. Lots of you swear by it, but besides my own creepy experience, I have heard several times here about scams, weirdos and security risks.... I still stand by my "just say no" approach to Craigslist. If ot works for you, great, still advise extreme caution! Why can't there be a NEW "list" that provides similar service without all the yuckiness? One without the reputation of Craigslist? So sad that free and popular advertising has to come with so many security risks 
cheerfuldom 10:06 AM 06-13-2011
I have great success with CL. This particular email is a total scam though.
SilverSabre25 10:44 AM 06-13-2011
Originally Posted by Sugar Magnolia:
...of Craigslist. Lots of you swear by it, but besides my own creepy experience, I have heard several times here about scams, weirdos and security risks.... I still stand by my "just say no" approach to Craigslist. If ot works for you, great, still advise extreme caution! Why can't there be a NEW "list" that provides similar service without all the yuckiness? One without the reputation of Craigslist? So sad that free and popular advertising has to come with so many security risks
One of the tricks to avoiding scams and creeps on CL is to not post your full actual email address--posting it as " email (at) provider (dot) com" seems to do the trick. Since I started doing that, I've gotten virtually no spam responses to my ads, and I have ads posted pretty frequently....of Craigslist. Lots of you swear by it, but besides my own creepy experience, I have heard several times here about scams, weirdos and security risks.... I still stand by my "just say no" approach to Craigslist. If ot works for you, great, still advise extreme caution! Why can't there be a NEW "list" that provides similar service without all the yuckiness? One without the reputation of Craigslist? So sad that free and popular advertising has to come with so many security risks
Sugar Magnolia 10:59 AM 06-13-2011
Originally Posted by SilverSabre25:
One of the tricks to avoiding scams and creeps on CL is to not post your full actual email address--posting it as " email (at) provider (dot) com" seems to do the trick. Since I started doing that, I've gotten virtually no spam responses to my ads, and I have ads posted pretty frequently.
Hmmm interesting! What would you all say is your success rate is on craigslist? For example: after you post, how many replies to you get? Of those replies, how many actually sign up? I would LIKE to try it, but I got scared off when I was trying to simply sell a dishwasher and 3/4 of the replies were scary or weird. Do you think its because if you indicate you are a woman, the freaks come out? My dishwaher ad said "husband says it needs minor repair" and that was my big mistake.....One of the tricks to avoiding scams and creeps on CL is to not post your full actual email address--posting it as " email (at) provider (dot) com" seems to do the trick. Since I started doing that, I've gotten virtually no spam responses to my ads, and I have ads posted pretty frequently.
thecrazyisout 11:02 AM 06-13-2011
Originally Posted by blueclouds29:
I had the same thing last summer from a single dad from (i don't remember what country) with a young girl the same age as my dd. Off Craigslist. Every time i emailed him specific question on times, dates or about his daughter he would go around it. After many emails we declared it was a scam. This went on for a couple of days with out real details just that he was coming on such a such date to meet with me but never a date or my address was asked or given.
It was scary.
Good Luck, use your judgement!
I had the EXACT same thing about a month ago from the Netherlands...it was wierd....I only gave him information that was public already.....meaning what was on my website...It is scary to think that someone might use this information..I had the same thing last summer from a single dad from (i don't remember what country) with a young girl the same age as my dd. Off Craigslist. Every time i emailed him specific question on times, dates or about his daughter he would go around it. After many emails we declared it was a scam. This went on for a couple of days with out real details just that he was coming on such a such date to meet with me but never a date or my address was asked or given.
It was scary.
Good Luck, use your judgement!
daycare 11:24 AM 06-13-2011
I have a great success rate with cragis list as well..... Bottom line is that a creep is a creep and they will find any way to do what they are going to with or without craigs list. Actually one of the weirdest people I have had was from a referal from a client. super creepy and strange.
SilverSabre25 11:41 AM 06-13-2011
Originally Posted by Sugar Magnolia:
Hmmm interesting! What would you all say is your success rate is on craigslist? For example: after you post, how many replies to you get? Of those replies, how many actually sign up? I would LIKE to try it, but I got scared off when I was trying to simply sell a dishwasher and 3/4 of the replies were scary or weird. Do you think its because if you indicate you are a woman, the freaks come out? My dishwaher ad said "husband says it needs minor repair" and that was my big mistake.....
Keep in mind that the child care listings in my area are really, really busy--50-100 new postings on an average day. That being said, sometimes I get 5-10 responses (this was a year ago) out of which I set up 2-3 interviews, of which maybe 1-2 showed up, and 0-1 signed up. I'm not dirt cheap and lose a lot people that way Hmmm interesting! What would you all say is your success rate is on craigslist? For example: after you post, how many replies to you get? Of those replies, how many actually sign up? I would LIKE to try it, but I got scared off when I was trying to simply sell a dishwasher and 3/4 of the replies were scary or weird. Do you think its because if you indicate you are a woman, the freaks come out? My dishwaher ad said "husband says it needs minor repair" and that was my big mistake.....
. Lately it's been weeks of no responses, then 3 from one ad, and I got 1 client from those 3 interviews. In general though, CL is the only place I advertise and in 18 months I've had 3 clients come via word of mouth and all the rest (7) came from CL. Most are good clients; one from CL and one from word-of-mouth were horrible. I'm currently serving 4 families--1 word-of-mouth and 3 from CL.
sharlan 11:41 AM 06-13-2011
I do have an ad on Craigslist, but it doesn't have my email address or my phone numbers.
Sugar Magnolia 11:56 AM 06-13-2011
Originally Posted by SilverSabre25:
Keep in mind that the child care listings in my area are really, really busy--50-100 new postings on an average day. That being said, sometimes I get 5-10 responses (this was a year ago) out of which I set up 2-3 interviews, of which maybe 1-2 showed up, and 0-1 signed up. I'm not dirt cheap and lose a lot people that way. Lately it's been weeks of no responses, then 3 from one ad, and I got 1 client from those 3 interviews.
In general though, CL is the only place I advertise and in 18 months I've had 3 clients come via word of mouth and all the rest (7) came from CL. Most are good clients; one from CL and one from word-of-mouth were horrible. I'm currently serving 4 families--1 word-of-mouth and 3 from CL.
Wow that's a pretty decent return. Thanks for the update.Keep in mind that the child care listings in my area are really, really busy--50-100 new postings on an average day. That being said, sometimes I get 5-10 responses (this was a year ago) out of which I set up 2-3 interviews, of which maybe 1-2 showed up, and 0-1 signed up. I'm not dirt cheap and lose a lot people that way
. Lately it's been weeks of no responses, then 3 from one ad, and I got 1 client from those 3 interviews. In general though, CL is the only place I advertise and in 18 months I've had 3 clients come via word of mouth and all the rest (7) came from CL. Most are good clients; one from CL and one from word-of-mouth were horrible. I'm currently serving 4 families--1 word-of-mouth and 3 from CL.
Unregistered 01:56 PM 07-21-2011
Hi! I'm so glad y'all posted this thread--my friend got this exact email and got suspicious after she'd emailed him a bit. Today things got really fishy and I found this thread and a similar one on dogwalker.com : http://www.dogwalker.com/possible-sc...o-dog-walkers/
My vote is YES! This is definitely a scam! Just my two cents
Thanks again for posting this--it confirmed our suspicions!
My vote is YES! This is definitely a scam! Just my two cents
Thanks again for posting this--it confirmed our suspicions!
JaydensMommy 02:44 PM 07-21-2011
I get those everyday from my ad on CL. I don't even have to open them anymore i can tell from the title and email address that its spam.
CheekyChick 02:44 PM 07-21-2011
I am 99.99999999999999999999999999999999% sure it's a scam. I get these e-mails almost daily. They will ask for a ton of personal information and then say they will pay you in advance. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but once you cash the check, they will have your banking information. Be careful.
sharlan 02:51 PM 07-21-2011
He must have found someone else, I never got another email from him.
Crazy8 03:08 PM 07-21-2011
I get them all the time to my daycare email address. I always assumed they were scams and never reply - I don't even want to give them the incentive to contact me again.
PolarCare 03:24 PM 07-21-2011
It's a really common scam.
They send you a check. Say you ask for a deposit of $400 to hold a spot. They send you a check for $800. You cash the check from your bank and they send an associate to pick up the extra $400, or they ask you to Western Union them the money. You don't find out til weeks later that the check is bad, the bank it's written off of is non existent, and you are out the entire $800.
They do the same thing when you have an item for sale listed on CL, particularly pets. I sell farming items and livestock on CL all the time and I've gotten the same scammy stuff over and over. Often I get the exact same email for mulitiple items that I have listed. It's ridiculous.
Never take a check from someone you don't know, and if you do take a check, make sure you can clear it before they take the item/services.
They send you a check. Say you ask for a deposit of $400 to hold a spot. They send you a check for $800. You cash the check from your bank and they send an associate to pick up the extra $400, or they ask you to Western Union them the money. You don't find out til weeks later that the check is bad, the bank it's written off of is non existent, and you are out the entire $800.
They do the same thing when you have an item for sale listed on CL, particularly pets. I sell farming items and livestock on CL all the time and I've gotten the same scammy stuff over and over. Often I get the exact same email for mulitiple items that I have listed. It's ridiculous.
Never take a check from someone you don't know, and if you do take a check, make sure you can clear it before they take the item/services.
granny04 03:01 AM 07-22-2011
I was contacted as well by Mr. I'm relocating. Ran the email by a friend working for Dept. of Defense. Seemed legit but I was cautioned to only accept it as legit to the point that money became involved. Sure enough! On July 21, approx. a month after initial contact trying to scam me using a money order happened. I notified FBI and postal authorities. Mr. Relocator also went after dog walkers.com--didn't even bother to change his story except to add a dog---a PUPPY no less--how adorable!
We are trying to run a business to take care of ourselves and the children of others--now we have to watch out for these bad guys!!
Be careful is my message to others--be very careful--and spread the word to every day care provider you know!!!
We are trying to run a business to take care of ourselves and the children of others--now we have to watch out for these bad guys!!
Be careful is my message to others--be very careful--and spread the word to every day care provider you know!!!
AmandasFCC 08:17 AM 07-22-2011
That IS a scam. 100%. I had the exact same email last year.
AnneCordelia 09:45 AM 07-22-2011
I got that exact same e-mail three months ago. I knew it was a scam because it asks for zipcode...we don't have those here in Canada.