Catrina McCosker is a law school student
who also works as a nanny her resume is
posted on childcare sites so she was
interested when she got an email from a
family looking for help and saying hey I
move in to the United States I'm from
Ireland
my sister's looking for a nanny for her
kids and I thought it was a great
opportunity the email went to Katrina's
personal email address which was unusual
she's used to corresponding through the
job sites she assumed they got it off
her resume we want you to get our house
in order our affairs in order before we
get here get the apartment set up both
sides emailed back and forth for more
than a month
they sent a check for about four
thousand dollars and they said deposit
this check and send the rest to our
financial person it was cash Katrina was
told she should take $250 out as an
initial payment which is a lot of money
for literally receiving a check and
sending money to someone else so I
thought okay 250 bucks to send money to
your financial person for doing these
little things for you sure she made the
deposit on our lunch break and then
wired the remaining money when she
returned to work and mention the story
to a colleague he thought it sounded
like a scam I'm just stunned I'm shocked
I can't believe that happened I'm like I
lost thousands of dollars I don't have
thousands of dollars her colleague looks
up how to call the wire service and
because she acted quickly they were able
to stop payment ten minutes later I got
a call from a man not a Irish woman
saying you saw the money what happened
postal inspectors say these scams take
many forms like work at home
opportunities and online auction site
transactions the best advice is to
proceed with caution ask specific
questions be asked for details on what
their employment is what's expected of
them