NC college student almost loses thousands in Care.com scam

RALEIGH, N.C. — A popular babysitting website is warning its users about a scam that almost cost a college student thousands of dollars.

A Raleigh college student identified only as Molly said she posted an ad on Care.com to earn extra money over the summer, ABC11/WTVD reported.

After about 4 or 5 months, she got a text from a woman asking her to watch her son on the weekends.

Molly became wary when the woman sent her a check for more than $2,000 before she started the job.

"She was like, 'You need to deposit the check, and once it is in your bank account withdraw the extra amount in cash and then transfer it into this other account,'" Molly told ABC11.

The woman said her son had just broken his leg and was in a wheelchair. She said the money needed to be moved into the account of a different person, who was going to buy her son another wheelchair.

The bank confirmed Molly's suspicions when it returned the check as a fake.

If she had transferred the funds, she would have been responsible for returning the money to the bank.

Care.com said it's familiar with the scam and has a warning on its website.

The company advises its users to contact potential families and babysitters through its monitored messaging system.

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