GreatAuPair Security Center

GreatAuPair Security Center

GreatAuPair.com values your privacy and security but it takes a mutual effort to ensure your protection. If you are aware of how scammers and human traffickers operate, you can avoid becoming a victim. For your safety and financial protection, please read this section to reduce the risk of falling prey to online fraud and illegal activities related to:

How can I be sure GreatAuPair is a safe and trustworthy website?

We have developed a proprietary 30-Point Fraud-Prevention system to help identify and eradicate potential fraud or would-be scammers in real-time. To ensure quality and safety, our Parent Editorial Team™ screens every profile created or modified on a daily basis. Through our secure email system, you're in control of your privacy. Only those whom you email directly will receive your email address.

GreatAuPair has served over 1,000,000 families and caregivers since 2001. Take a look at the several thousand customers who have shared their experience in our customer reviews section. To learn more about us watch the founders' video or visit the about us section.

GreatAuPair's service is constantly monitored and reported on by the following third-party auditing services. Click the security and trust logos below to validate our security and trustworthiness.

BBB GreatAuPair is committed to providing you excellent service with honesty and integrity. If you should ever have an issue or a problem with our service, our support staff is happy to assist you in resolving the matter in a professional and timely manner. InteliMark Enterprises and GreatAuPair are registered with The Better Business Bureau. Click their logo to verify our status.


Credit card transactions are protected using highly secure, industry-standard 128-bit cryptographic algorithms over the Secure Sockets Layer protocol. Digicert provides constant verification of our servers' secure encryption of all private data.

GreatAuPair protects you and your privacy so you can hire trustworthy care with confidence. We offer free background checks to all U.S. national caregivers, which, along with professional references, reviews, photos and videos, are freely available to family-employers with an active subscription.

How to recognize a scammer

A scammer may pose as a caregiver or a parent/employer who will try to gain your confidence via email but will seldom be available by phone. The scammer will likely ask you to send money to a travel agent, themselves or a family member for a visa, airfare, vaccinations, medical or other needs. Do not be fooled into sending money by wire transfer, Western Union or other means to anyone you meet online - even the most ideal-sounding candidate.

Most scams involve one or more of the following:

  • Urgent request by someone far away, usually in another country
  • Sending or receiving money via Western Union, Money Gram, cashier's check, money order, shipping, escrow service, or some form of a "guarantee"
  • The inability or refusal to speak with you directly on the phone
  • Unique circumstances, hardship or problem requiring your understanding and trust

How to avoid being scammed

Be aware of scams. Know how to identify scams as mentioned above and protect yourself against potential fraud and scammers who may ask you to send money or financial information for a variety of reasons. Be suspicious about any request of this nature. Ask probing questions; get third-party referrals and recommendations that you can verify.

Candidates, do not accept advance payments from a potential employer. If you receive a cashier's check or other form of payment from anyone as an advance payment, it will likely be a fake. Your bank will cash the fake check and you will be held liable.

What to do if you find a scam

If you think you've come in contact with a scammer contact our support staff immediately and notify the appropriate authorities.

  • FTC toll free hotline: 877-FTC-HELP (877-382-4357)
  • FTC online complaint form
  • Canadian PhoneBusters hotline: 888-495-8501
  • Competition Bureau Canada: 800-348-5358
  • Internet Fraud Complaint Center
  • Software Piracy (http://www.siia.net/piracy/report.asp)
  • Non-emergency number for your local police department.

Spoofed emails

Scammers may send you emails that appear to be from GreatAuPair.com which try to legitimize their claims to earn your trust. Email spoofing is easy and commonly requires the scammer to only change the name of the email sender in their email program so that it appears in your inbox as being from "Support at GreatAuPair" while actually being sent from the scammer - not GreatAuPair. You can easily verify the actual sender by viewing the headers of the email message. In the email header you will see the actual "From" address. If the "From" address does not end with "GreatAuPair.com" then you are likely dealing with a scammer who has sent you a spoofed email. In which case, you should forward the entire message with the headers to GreatAuPair so we can investigate the situation.

Email and phishing scams

Phishing is a type of deception designed to steal your valuable personal data, such as website login credentials and credit card numbers. Some scammers use phishing scams to set up convincing copies or "spoofs" of legitimate websites. They then try to trick you into visiting these websites and disclosing personal information.

Spoofed websites

Spoofed websites are commonly used in conjunction with phishing scams. The spoofed site is usually designed to look like the legitimate site, often using stolen components from the legitimate site. Do not rely on the text in the address bar as an indication that you are at the site you think you are. There are several ways to get the address bar in a browser to display something other than the site you are on. The best way to verify whether you are at a spoofed site is to verify that the certificate of the website matches what's listed in the browser's address bar.

Advance-fee fraud

An advance-fee fraud is a confidence trick in which a scammer tries to persuade you to advance them money based on their promise that you will realize a significantly larger gain. There are many forms of this scam. You may be offered the opportunity to become an art dealer with exclusive rights to a new territory. Offers like this will come via email as spam. You should immediately recognize this or anything remotely like it as a scam.

Identity theft

Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personally identifying information, like your name, banking information, Social Security number, or credit card number, without your permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. Identity theft is sometimes also known as phishing.

Identity thieves may use a variety of methods to get hold of your information, including:

  1. Dumpster Diving. They rummage through trash looking for bills or other paper with your personal information on it.
  2. Skimming. They steal credit/debit card numbers by using a special storage device when processing your card.
  3. Phishing. They pretend to be financial institutions or companies and send spam or pop-up messages to get you to reveal your personal information.
  4. Changing Your Address. They divert your billing statements to another location by completing a change of address form.
  5. Old-Fashioned Stealing. They steal wallets and purses; mail, including bank and credit card statements; pre-approved credit offers; and new checks or tax information. They steal personnel records, or bribe employees who have access.
  6. Pretexting. They use false pretenses to obtain your personal information from financial institutions, telephone companies, and other sources.

Human trafficking

Every day people are deceived or forced into a life no one would choose — sold into the sex trade, locked up in sweat shops, made to work for little or no pay. They are victims of human trafficking. Human trafficking is a crime and it can exist anywhere. Human trafficking is also avoidable if you know what to look out for. Traffickers bait unaware victims with offers of easy jobs for big pay. See how to avoid becoming a victim of human trafficking.

Be informed, not afraid

There are legitimate candidates who may need help with travel expenses. If you elect to cover such expenses, you can either use your own reputable travel agency or agree to reimburse the travel costs once your care provider arrives.

GreatAuPair.com has thousands of wonderful, legitimate Au Pairs, Nannies, Babysitters, Pet Sitters, Personal Assistants, Tutors and Senior Care providers throughout the world. Unfortunately, there are a few unscrupulous people against whom we must guard ourselves. Validate everything. Be smart and be safe in your search.

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