International cashiers check fraud?? what is you opinion on this situation i think it sounds like a scam!

Question

This woman responded to my add for me to babysit children during the week. She seems very nice bla bla bla we have been talking over the interned for a while. She is coming to Montreal for 2 months and wants me to watch her daughter. but she is sending me an international cashiers check and wants me to take my money upfront and then wire her the difference western union so that she can get a flight. This is supposed money that her work owes her. Western Union is supposed to be untraceable and i dont want to get stuck with a bounced check so i am not going to be cashing this...

and what kind of a mother leaves her kid with someone that she has never even met?

Answer 1

It sounds like a typical scam to me too.  They almost always send some weird sort of check they expect you to cash and then send them cash back.  Try telling her that you will wait until her check clears first and see if you ever hear from her again.

I hope you have really good insurance to cover those kids you are watching.  One accident and you will be broke for life.

Answer 2

SCAM.

The check will look real but be fake.  It will bounce but only after you send out the wire leaving you on the hook for the money.

Answer 3

This reeks of a scam and it's a typical one at that.

Answer 4

Most definately a scam. Telling her to wait to see if the check clears won't deter her since the check will clear, only for it to bounce 7 days later when your bank cannot get the funds for it. She is also covering her tracks by asking you to send the money western union since this will not be traced back to her. She/he is using a bogus email account also.

With online adds don't do any transactions if you are unsure of the integrity of the other person or in your case until you've met with the people interested in your babysitting services. I agree with you that no mother hires a babysitter off the bat without even interviewing them!  

Answer 5

This is a scam big time!

Answer 6

Anytime you're given a check for more than you're owed and asked to send them the diffience, it's a scam.  

Answer 7

So now the scammers have spread to babysitters!

As others have stated, there is always a common thread.  Fake check to be deposited, a reason why there is too much money, the urgent need to have the excess refunded by you via Western Union, Moneygram or Bank Wire.

The other recent variations are the be-a-mystery-shopper check and the I-want-to-rent-your-house deposit.  The mystery shopper variant tries to claim you are spending their money to test Western Union's services (actually they are hoping that you won't tell WU what you are doing, because WU is well aware of the scam).  The rental variant has the person suddenly claiming their job/trip was cancelled, so they want everything back but the deposit....  

Answer 8

This is a classic fraud scenario.  She is asking you to return excess funds and of course there aren't any because the check is bogus to start with!!  You are right to think this this is a scam.

Answer 9

If it were a good check, wouldn't she cash it in her own account and pay her own fare?  I have seen people on Yahoo Answers writing about having similar things done to them by scammers.  

Answer 10

This is most likely a scam. Check it out on Snopes.com. It's not the same as the ones on there but pretty close, where you cash a check and wire them the difference. It ends up coming back on you because the check is fake and you're the one trying to cash it.