Ths Email Response To My Craigslist Ad Made Me Feel Uncomfortable. Am I Overreacting?

[LadyK8]

Am I justified in feeling a little uncomfortable with this email response from Craigslist:

"Hi,

Thank you for getting back to us we are coming from Quebec,Canada March 15th is our arrival date we would need a babysitter/nanny who will take care of our little girl during our stay in the United States her name is Courtney (2 years old) and i believe that with a nanny like you, she will be comfortable. We would be spending 2 weeks for the vacation before returning back to Quebec,Canada. I want you to babysit her from 10 am - 4 pm daily we will need your service from March 16th - March 31st 2014 (Pencil your calendar) will you will be available at that period? Firstly we want to get a Babysitter/Nanny for our little girl Courtney,before we book our vacation home.We are not sure of the area we would be visiting since this is our first time in the States and we don't have a nanny to take good care of her,only if you accept to take care of her,then we shall come over to your city and state. Which part do you live ? Your decision will determine where we would be staying in your location, let us know if you can take care of her in your home or at the hotel that we are going to lodge.You will take care of the food aspect,we are going to provide enough fund for her welfare,you can purchase any food for her,she is not allergic.

Am offering $300 for the one week service and $600 for the 2 weeks you will take care of my daughter for 10 : 00 am-4 : 00 pm, the main reason why we need your service is that we will be busy during week days because we have to visit some places and we also have lot of Humanitarian works to do around the City.We will be dropping her off and pick her up later around your schedules { that is if you want to watch her your place}.Courtney is a kid, one would like to be with,full of fun and love playing around,she loves toys. I am sure you will be able to give the best care..She is gentle,hardly fall sick,she likes sports,loves to watch cartoons,likes going to the beach,she likes to watch TV mostly and can eat by herself, I'm sure you won't have problems with her.I'll come along with her medical form, immunizations and vaccine records. Kindly answer all my questions accordingly as i am to forward this email to my Company as proof that i am hiring and paying someone for my daughter's child care service while on vacation..So they can include that in my traveling expenses which is to be paid to me.

The payment will be make in form of United States certified Certified Check and it will get to you prior to my arrival in order to make payment for your service and the duration that my kid will be taken care of,Please get back to me with the following details :

Full Name :
Home Address :
City :
State :
Zip Code :
Mobile Phone # :

I am offering you $600 for the service and the payment will be sent to you as soon as you get back to me with your full mailing information i mean your contact Address with your contact phone number and the Courier service tracking number used in mailing of the Certified Check will also be sent to you if you need it.

Thanks,

Warmest regards,
Clarion."


I'm not offering nanny services.

I just got a weird feeling when reading this.

[sahm1225]

Scam!!!

[melilley]

It does sound like a scam. I bet if you were to ask for their number so you can get back to them, you wouldn't get a response!

[Angelsj]

Classic scam.
They send you a "certified check" but for over the amount...oh, sorry, could you send the "overage" back to us?? By the time you do so, the "check" has bounced and you are out whatever the overage was.
And people do fall for this. By the hundreds.

[LadyK8]

So glad I went with my gut and asked here first.

Thank you for your responses.

[sharlan]

SCAM, SCAM, SCAM. I wouldn't even respond.

[LadyK8]

Didn't respond. Just deleted the email and went about my business.

Thanks again.

[TwinKristi]

Yes classic spam! I used to get them a lot but as you can see it's just very bizarre and strange in general. I just chuckle and delete! LOL ::

[Mister Sir Husband]

I actually still have a counterfeit money order from just such a scam .. I was selling an item on craigslist, they sent me 1800.00 for a 600.00 item and said there was a mixup and if I could cash it, send back the extra.. etc.. yea right. Sad part is my bank wouldn't even investigate it. I had the address of where they wanted the money sent, and 2 follow up emails asking me why I hadn't done it yet. I would have loved to have busted them..

[Mom o Col]

I've seen almost this exact thing and had very similar messages sent to me. SCAM. Sorry about that.

[Second Home]

There has been something like this circulation in MD . Unfortunately some providers have been taken by this scam .

[rebekki78]

I get those ALL the time! It made me not want to run an add on CL, but I have gotten a lot of calls from there, so I continued. If something sound fishy, I just delete the email. I left my phone number on there so if they really want to get ahold of me, they can I need to hire an assistant but am so worried to run an add on Craigslist because there are some creepy response that I received just from selling my couch on there!! Some people worry me!

[Crazy8]

Those are the only types of responses I get from CL ads. Don't respond, it just gives them your "real" email address and you'll get tons more spam!

I don't really use CL but when/if I do I always put the name of my daycare in the ad and tell them to google it to get my website and to contact me thru that. It may sound like a pain but someone who is seriously looking for child care won't mind the extra step and it gives them a chance to look at my website before contacting me.