Os voy a contar la historia de como casi me han estafado.
Hace unos días una familia se puso en contacto a través de
facebook conmigo. Eran de Nueva York, me decían que habían visto mi perfil en
AU PAIR WORLD y que estaban interesados en mi y me daban un correo electrónico
(melindajacobs000@gmail.com). El facebook de esta famillia era este:
- Inicio de la conversación 7 de diciembre
Melinda Jacobs
Hi, i am a host family from New York City (USA),i saw your profile on Aupair world and I will be needing an aupair soon.Please contact me on melindajacobs000@gmail.com if interested.
Les envié un email y me contestaron esto:
I am really happy that
you replied me and interested in working for
our
family, I hope you'll enjoy working for our family. Here is a
little
about us:
THE
FAMILY
Our
family now have a busier schedule, I started working full time as
a
financial controller 8.00am to 5.30pm, my husband runs his own pipe-lining
business
which is based on Civil Engineering (so we're not always
available
at home) so we are looking for some assistance with the kids
and
around the house. Hopefully you can add another language for my kids
to
learn and experience a different culture. Our friends, who live
minutes
away, have an au pair from Spain and it's working really well
for
them.
We
live on 183 Hawthorne Ave #125 Central Islip 11722,USA) which am sure you know
is
a big
city. I am down to Earth, blunt and take things the way they
come. I
am a very friendly person and easy to get along with. You will
have
no problem in adapting to our lifestyle here. We will need your
services
due to the time commitment that is demanding by our job. We
want
you to know that you'll never have any cause to regret taking up
this
job. If you smoke and you want to smoke,it must not be in my
home
cause we don't smoke in the house and definitely not in front of
my
kids, I must say here that were Christian family and we are
devoted
to our Religion.
The
Kids
My
oldest boy's name is Derick, he will be 8 by October and his younger brother is
Daniel who will be 6 by November, we enrolled daniel into school at a
kindergarten and derick is in the elemetary school, they are both welcoming and
though young,
they've
got friendly attitude too. they love playing a lot and I do not think you will
have
any problem with them. so far they both eat and play well. Very
intelligent
and fun to be with, they like candy, chocolate enjoys
watching
cartoon. You’ll enjoy staying with my kids.
SALARY
You
will be entitled to a pay of $1800 every month while you will also
be
given an entitlement of $100 every week for petty expenses which you
might
need for yourself. This salary is subject to negotiations for an
upward
review upon your arrival.
SCHEDULE
We
would appreciate help getting the kids ready for school and
walking
them down (5mins), collecting them from school, getting their meal
ready
and sitting down to go through their home work or school
activities
(at this age its not too taxing!!), taking them out on their
bike
or to the park which requires crossing one road and you're there.
Food
shopping (next to school) and keeping the house tidy, along with
meal
preparation. There is a good bus service and train network
however
we are looking at providing a small car. This would give you
more
freedom and allow you to have trips with my boys. We love occasional
nights
out and can agree on evenings and schedule when required.
ROOM
A well
furnished bedroom will be made available for your personal use
soon
as you get here. You will also be provided with a personal
computer
connected to the internet so you can keep in contact with
relatives,
TV and other necessary things at your disposal. There will
be
enough privacy for you; I guess you'll really like it.
You
are free to start as soon as possible, I will appreciate you
coming
immediately but any date of your choice will also be welcomed.
You
have every weekend as your off days as my husband will not be
going
to work during weekends except special overtime.
STUDY
You
will be free to study in any school of your choice soon as you get
here
that's if you still want to. I will be helping you as regards
tuition
fees and there are so many colleges and Universities here that
offer
good and qualitative courses. We’ll be willing to help you with
that.
Let me
know if you are ready to take up this position and probably get
some
more pictures from you?
I will
love to know how long you want to stay with us and if the
salary
is good by you?
Do you
have a valid passport and other necessary document needed for
Visa
Application?
Thanks.
Incluso me mandaron fotos, de los mismos niños que salían en el facebook. Todo parecía muy bonito, demasiado para ser verdad. Familia de Nueva York.....cobrando 1800 $ por mes (lo normal son unos 195$ por semana), dándome la dirección de su casa (que yo busqué por google earth por supuesto....y estaba allí xD). Aún así les envié otro correo hablándoles un poco más de mi, porque podía ser verdad... Ellos me contestaron con el siguiente:
Hi ,
Thanks for your message am excited you like our family,I spoke with my husband and he agreed you can come over, its just our two boys, so we are looking it to make it bigger family by you joining us.Our kids would love to meet you so I'll want us to start preparations as soon as possible and get everything set because I believe the VISA processing takes some time.
About the Visa, flight and other traveling documents, I believe its best we get them through an agency because of our past experience from our neighbor: so I believe it's best to apply through them, they helped our neighbor with their last Au pair and it was very fast, smooth so we also feel very secure patronizing them. We want to make sure that you have a valid VISA and documents so that when you get to the US there wont be any hitch whatsoever.
Our friends had their first Au pair In the year 2012 from Finland that processed an invalid VISA more like a tourist VISA instead of a J1 VISA and was later caught some few weeks after staying with them which cost them so many Court cases, please in that case I hope you are okay with this security measure.
Concerning your Visa processing and all traveling expenses, I believe you know that our family must also pay some amount of money too, that means you will also be paying your own part of the total traveling expenses which is affordable I believe, but right now I cannot give you the current cost breakdown and processing details except you make contact.I want us to make progress without any delay so that you can join us soonest.
In regards to this, you will have to contact Mrs Stewart (The International Relations Officer) of the America aupair Agency on this email:Aupair-USA@usa.com for all details of the processing of your Visa, Work Permit,Medical Insurance, Flight Tickets and other traveling documents including the Total Cost,please tell her "Your name, Your Full contact address and your personal cell phone number with international dialing code, your country and how long you intend staying with us and when you will wanna start and that you have found your American Host family (Jacobs' Family with ID NY10011 living in 183 Hawthorne Ave #125 Central Islip 11722)
Then Please kindly get back to me with whatever they tell you so that we can discuss better about the payment. I will be expecting your reply soonest. Make sure you contact them as soon as possible as we can't wait to have you here with us.
Merry Christmas
Que me pusiera en contacto con una agencia era algo que me esperaba, pues irte de AuPair a USA implica hacerlo por agencia. Sabía que con esto tenía que tener cuidado, pues las agencias, como es lógico, te piden un dinero anticipado (qeu suele rondar los 500 € y con el cual te aseguras billete de avión etc).
No estaba muy convendida....porque era todo demasiado bonito. Además yo estaba buscando una familia para 3 meses y en EEUU eso es imposible (almenos legalmente); en cambio esta familia no ponía impedimentos.
A pesar de todo hoy he enviado mis datos a la agencia, a nombre todo de la famosa "Mrs Stewart" que ellos nombraban, (lo único verdaderamente privado que le he mandado ha sido mi número de teléfono, porque el resto era el nombre y email....). Además, por otro lado, le he vuelto a escribir a la famila...pidiéndoles una conversación por el maravilloso invento del SKYPE. Me han respondido lo siguiente:
Ok dear, please let me know when you get a response from the agency. I will add you on skype.
La verdad es que me sonaba todo muy bonito, y no me fiaba. No encontraba la agencia por ningún lado de internet. Hay una famosa lista de las 14 agencias fiables para irte de Au Pair a USA, y ninguna tenía ese correo electrónico. Así que buscando y rebuscando he encontrado en un foro a una chica que....SURPRISE SURPRISE!! Tenía el mismo correo que YO!! Solo que con otra direccion y otro facebook, otro nombre y otra dirección....todo lo demás IGUAL (incluyendo a la señora Stewart!!).
En ese momento, la agencia me ha respondido con lo siguiente (En resumen lo que pone es que me querían cobrar la barbaridad de 1650$ por trámites y vuelo. Cerca de 3 veces más de lo normal en estas agencias....
Au Pair America Management wishes to thank you for contacting us regarding the arrangement of your Traveling Documents to the United State of America. We promise to offer you the best which you will be glad you did. The Agency is a U.S. State Department-designated sponsor for an Au pair cultural exchange program. They bring to their program more than 25 years of experience in cultural exchange and hosting Au pairs, including those for our own children. Our experience in the travel industry has served our clients well over last several years. And we are fully ASTA and ATOL protected travel agent. which means your money is fully guaranteed.
ATOL – which is short for “Air Travel Organizers' Licensing” – exists to protect the public from losing money or being stranded abroad because of the failure of air travel firms. It was first introduced in 1972 and it gives comprehensive consumer protection to 28 million people in the UK and USA who buy flights or air holidays each year.
It was indicated in your E-mail that you have been told by one of our Host Families (Jacobs Family with ID NY10011 living in 183 Hawthorne Ave #125 Central Islip 11722,USA) to contact us. We promise never to disappoint you as we have never disappointed in fulfilling our promises.
We would request that you strictly download, print, read through, fill carefully and send back to us via this email address scanned copy of the duly filled forms attached to this mail,
it contains all necessary information you need in regards to the Total cost and the documents requested from you to provide so that we can successfully process all your Data..
For the Cost and the Child Care Agreement Form for download, read and fill carefully the attached word document file titled-COST AND PAYMENT AUTHORIZATION FORM stated in this attached is the total cost of $1,650 as an Au pair .
For your Au Pair America Registration Form and list of required documents you will have to provide, download read carefully and Fill the attached Word Document file titled- Au Pair America APPLICATION FORM. We expect you to get back to us with the filled forms not more than a week from now , so that we can inform you on how to make payment.
Note : That we can not proceed with if we do not receive the scanned copies of the duly filled form,these forms enable us to register you with
Au Pair America Program as an Au Pair and it also provide all necessary information that we will require to process your Visa and other travel documents so once the payment is made with a detailed submission of all the duly filled forms then we can start processing of your Visa,Flight ticket and every other travel documents.
TERMS AND REGULATIONS
Au Pair America, Inc. work in full term and condition with all international Visa & Working Permit Agency ,for all travelers in Countries that are not in the same country with the agency of their choice or where the Agency of their choice don't have office in their country.
Which allow for the Following Terms and Regulations:
- All Document necessary Must be valid and certified by Migrations service of the country of the traveler
-The photo Page of the passport of all traveler must show the original personality in physical.
- Visa charges and work permit fees must be paid directly to the Consulate of the Country the traveler is going which is in affiliation with the Immigration Department of the country the traveler is traveling to.
- All Customers Processing Visa of the country of their choice with Agencies in the country of their choice must Send along with other necessary document the photo page of their Passport which will serve as evident of legibility at the Consulate of their country of their choice in their location.
- All Customers Processing Visa of the country of their choice with Agencies in the country of their choice must have a mailing address where all necessary document which include letter of invitation to the country of their choice by Consulate of the country, letter of invitation by their host family and Faxed papers for Visa charges payment will be mailed to.
- Which was recently added in the advent of cyber crimes disallow any form of payment with out cash therefore Bank check,Credit Cards,Money orders are not accepted for payment for any service.In keeping this regulations legible applicants who are not in the same location with the traveling agency of the choice will only make payment via the host family or via Money gram or bank transfer to our agency representative.
Thanks for contacting us,In anticipation of your response. "At Au Pair America we are interested in getting you to your destination in style and comfort."
Mrs Stewart (International Relations Officer)
For: Au Pair America, Inc
En fin. He hecho esta entrada por si alguna vez recibís esto que lo podáis comparar....porque son tan tontos que no han cambiado ni el contenido de los emails...
Aunque me lo hubiera creído, al leer la cantidad que piden no hubiera ido porque se que eso es una barbaridad, y lo se porque me he informado muchas veces de como va el tema de Aupair en USA.
Es una pena que se aprovechen de la situación que estamos viviendo en España para hacer estas cosas. Tienen muy poquísima vergüenza.
Yo por mi parte, como no sabía como denunciarlo ni nada, le he enviado un correo a la embajada de EEUU, que a lo mejor ni leen....pero no sabía que hacer o si existe alguien encargado de reunir en una lista los "fakes" y las estafas....si fuera así ya tendría un correo más que enviar....Además lo he incluido aquí por si alguien duda, que confirme sus sospechas....
No os fieis nunca NUNCA de estas cosas. Para irte a USA es todo muy básico. 12 meses, agencias de entre 400-600 € aprox, eso es básico. Si se sale de esas pautas es probable que sea una familia falsa. Yo de esta me he librado por poco, y aun así estoy bastante preocupada porque les he llegado a dar mi número de móvil.... pero la otra chica del foro no puso que hubiera tenido ningún problema, y ella debió enviarlo también.
Ahora no se que responderle a la tal Melinda. No me decido si por foto de cierto dedo de mi mano, o una simple expresión conocida, que tiene que ver con la F.
Espero que estéis pasando unas felices fiestas....las mías podrían ser mejorables, por motivos ajenos a los de esta entrada. Al menos con esto he tenido la mente ocupada un ratito y me he reído una mijilla!!
Un besooo =)
