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Babysitters beware of this Craigslist check fraud scheme

If a nice family wants you to cash a check for them, find out if it's fake first.

 

Gaby Dunn

Internet Culture

Posted on Jun 11, 2013   Updated on Jun 1, 2021, 1:41 pm CDT

Seems obvious, but don’t take a babysitting job off of Craigslist for a family you’ve never met.

Looking to make money quick, Greensboro, N.C., native Megan Reichl answered an ad for a summer babysitter, where she’d earn 23 dollars an hour looking after two children.

Over the next few weeks, Reichl corresponded with the family via email and text. They needed help moving from California to Greensboro and wanted her to help them set up their apartment.

“They were just really good about it: the detail they went into, the way they described themselves,” Reichl told Digtriad.com.

They gave her a list of groceries to prep their new home and Fed-Exed her a check for $2,400. She deposited the check, but it didn’t clear. They asked her to transfer part of the money, $1,800, to a realtor in Nebraska. Reichl thought this was suspicious and went to her bank to see if the check was fake. It was.

The lesson? Don’t take money from someone on Craigslist that you’ve never met. Duh.

H/T Digtriad | Photo via 401(K)/Flickr

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*First Published: Jun 11, 2013, 6:12 pm CDT