Sutton nanny caught up in Gumtree internet family scam

The 25-year-old Polish student working in North Cheam was looking for a babysitter job through website Gumtree when she was targeted by the scammer, who tried to get her bank details.

The nanny, who did not want to be named, said: “I had used Gumtree giving a brief description about myself, including my teacher’s qualifications and the sort of work I was looking for when I received an email which appeared to be genuine.

“It showed a couple with their child.

"The email appeared legitimate. The dad said they were a Christian family who ‘needs a God-fearing and humble female to babysit Ryan in two weeks’ time’.

"Plus the job was very well paid – £15 an hour.”

But she said alarm bells rang when the father said he was prepared to employ her without checking references or interviewing her, simply based on trust.

“He wanted me to meet the family at the airport and ‘start immediately’,” she said.

“He also asked for my bank details saying I would be paid by bank transfer.”

The email she received read: “The reason why I need your bank details is that your weekly payment will be made on bank transfer and I don’t have a plan to pay you in cash.”

Then another email arrived on similar lines from someone else saying he was a “Christian father”, whose wife had died and his company was in charge of covering the costs of nanny service.

After the nanny refused to meet the sender of the message at the airport or give her bank details he told her the job was not hers.

She then warned Gumtree its website was being used by fraudsters.

Emma Crawford of the Stay Safe Gumtree team said: “If it looks too good to be true it probably is.”

According to Mrs Crawford reporting dodgy emails on Gumtree is worth the effort.

She said: “We take matters like this very seriously and I will use the information given to us to see what can be done to prevent this happening in the future.”

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