Scammers now targeting unsuspecting baby sitters

HOUSTON -- A warning for those looking to earn some extra cash: A teen who wanted to baby sit ended up in the middle of a scam.

She wanted to make money as a baby sitter, but when a teenager from Highlands, Texas listed her services online, that's when the trouble started.

Not long ago Katy Brannan advertised her herself as a baby sitter on the website care.com. Typically the website acts as ago between linking up sitters with clients.

But somehow Brannan's phone number made it onto the site and the person who contacted her was not pre-screened. The client wanted to pay Brannan $400 a week for sitting two kids, one with special needs.

"I thought $400 a week that was really good and that could help me out with the holiday and anything else that I needed," said Brannan.

The catch is that the client was in the process of moving to Houston. All the communication was done by email and text message.

Brannan's first check came before the family even got to Texas and it was not for $400 but $2,700 because the client said Brannan would need the extra money to pay for a wheel chair for that special needs child.

"She wanted me to deposit the check into my account and then I guess write another check out to the wheel chair company," said Brannan.

The client was from Ohio, the check was sent from New Jersey and written on an account belonging to a restaurant in Katy. None of that made sense to Brannan's mom, Jennifer Halfin.

"I called the restaurant and he was very surprised, he had never heard of this person," said Halfin.

It turns out the check is fake. If you deposit a fake check, once the fraud is discovered, the bank is coming after you to replace the cash, even if the money was made available to you.

"It takes a couple of days for the bank to verify whether or not the check is legit, and if it is not and you've cashed the check and spent the money then you might be held liable for the money that's been spent," said Monica Russo of the Houston Better Business Bureau.

Care.com has removed Brannan's phone number, so this should not happen to her again.

Remember, anytime a check comes to you with instructions to cash it and then forward thousands to someone you don't know, it's very likely a scam.