CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has issed a warning to nannies and caregivers who list their services on websites to proceed with caution.
The Attorney General’s Office recently learned of a scam in which someone uses email or text message to initiate the hiring of a nanny or caregiver who have listed services on sites such as Care.com, Sittercity.com or craiglist.com. The scammer sends the individual a check and asks them to deposit it, keep some money for their services and send the rest to someone else to supposedly pay for special items or medical equipment.
However, the check is fake and it can take weeks for a bank to discover the forgery. If the individual deposits the check and withdraws the funds, they will wind up owing the bank all the money.
The Attorney General’s office offers the following tips help consumers avoid this scam:
* Don’t deposit a check from or send money to anyone you don’t know.
* Never share your bank account number, including with a potential client.
* Be careful with potential clients who claim to be out of town or pressure you to deposit their check.
* Check out your potential clients. Search online for their names, email addresses, phone numbers and even the text of the message you received.
“This is unfortunately just another attempt for scammers to try and steal money from honest West Virginians,” Morrisey said in a statement. “We want to help protect people from losing their hard earned money to a scam.”
Those who think they have been the victim of this scam are asked to contact the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division at 1-800-368-88081-800-368-8808 or visit the Office online at www.ago.wv.gov.
Consumers can stay up to date with the latest scams by signing up for email alerts from our Office at: http://bit.ly/WVScamAlert.