Scam nearly costs college babysitter thousands
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Many teenagers and college students are looking for a summer job, but be careful when an offer comes in that is tough to resist. Molly is a college student and almost lost thousands of dollars in her quest to earn some extra money this summer.
She joined Care.com, a website that connects babysitters, caregivers, and nannies to those needing care.
Molly said, "I had my profile for maybe like 4 or 5 months before this woman reached out to me."
Molly says the initial contact came through a text where the woman told her she was a self-employed architect and needed someone to watch her son on the weekends. Molly said the woman even sent pictures of her son and said he was in a wheelchair as he just broke his leg.
Molly and the woman agreed on pay and a start date, and Molly received a check for over 2 grand before even starting the job.
"She was like you need to deposit the check, and once it is in your bank account withdraw the extra amount in cash and then transfer it into this other account," Molly said.
The red flags went up when the woman asked Molly to transfer some of the money into someone else's account who was going to buy her son another wheelchair. She said she asked the woman, "Is there any way I can write a check to the wheelchair person, and she said 'No it has to go directly into his account.'"
Molly was not comfortable doing that, and it's a good thing she did not follow through as the check she received eventually came back bad. If Molly would have transferred the funds, she then would be responsible for paying all of that money back to the bank.
Molly has this advice, "Do your research. It is really easy to get caught up, especially when you are a poor college kid."
Care.com is very familiar with this scam as they do have a warning on their website. The best advice is to always communicate through care.com as they have a monitored messaging system.
In this case, the woman reached out to Molly through text, only mentioning she saw her on Care.com. Also, if you're sent a check before even starting work and they want you to send money back to someone, that's a sure sign it's a scam.
