I've been SCAMMED!

Lots of people have been asking me about my scam story, so here goes!

I posted an ad on Craigslist for child care for the summer. I received an email from a woman claiming to be an artist with a 2 year old daughter. She was coming into Fort Wayne to have her art exhibited and needed care for her 2 year old daughter during the day while she was at the gallery. Knowing nothing about art, I figured that was normal (It's not in case you were wondering. Most artsist aren't there the entire time). She had asked a few questions about me, my family, my background...normal questions for someone that may be caring for your child. I answered them fully believing I was communicating with a real person and a mother. I never once thought that I was being scammed. I didn't give any personal information you can't get off my MySpace page, this blog, or a Google search. Aren't I smart? ;P We exchanged a few more emails. It really did all seem to be on the up and up. Not to mention that I was ecstatic because I was going to be making lots of money while staying home with Adelae. Things have been pretty rough here and I really thought this would be a PERFECT solution. However, I was wrong. I received an email stating that this woman would like to pre-pay to assure her daughter a spot in my daycare. That made me stop right in my tracks. 1st...I told her several times that I didn't have a daycare 2. who lets someone they've never even spoken to on the phone watch their child? She stated that if I filled out this form, her employer would send me a check right away. She wanted my full name, address, gender, and race. Not sure why you would need all those things. I was getting a really really bad feeling about all this. I looked over the emails I had received and realized, I knew nothing about this woman or her family. So, I sent a return email stating that I require an agreement to be signed and returned before I accepted any payment. Needless to say, I received another email asking for my personal information. I replied that I knew this was a scam and I would be contacting the proper authorities.

I worry that there are other moms out there that may fall prey to the same scam. I'm considering contacting our local news media to share my story. I would hate to know that someone else had this happen to them when I could have stopped it. So beware, if it's too good to be true...it probably is.

The womans name was Sandra Wilson and the email was sandluvx@yahoo.com Be on the look out!