Wednesday

beware 3
I just wanted to share a terrible experience we had with a Filipino nanny who used us to get out of the Philippines, took our money, lied, and ran away a month and a half after she started her contract.

Her name is Malouchie (last name withheld) and goes by the name Malou. She was born on 31 Aug 1977 and her passport number is (withheld). I am attaching a picture and a passport copy of her. We live in Cyprus at the moment. I am from Cyprus and my husband is American. We have a 7-month old baby boy. Since I work in the medical field, I didn’t have the chance to take a year or two from work to stay home and raise my child. In my profession the field advances so quickly that taking time off would most likely be the end of your career. Since I have invested so much in my education and career, I didn’t want to do that. In Cyprus, unlike other western countries, there are no reliable nanny agencies where you can see the references of the person you want to work with before you hire them. There are people who find nannies but your chance of finding someone good is 50/50.

So, when a government employee who works for the local work permit office told me that he knew a Filipino who wanted to come to Cyprus and work, and that she had childcare experience, I was excited. I had been looking for somebody locally for the last 3 months and I had been disappointed over and over again, so I was intrigued. I got in touch with this person via Skype. She gave me all the answers that I wanted to hear. She said she took care of a boy from 3-months to 3 years in Ankara, Turkey for a French family. She had a son herself and loved boys. She had worked in a Spa for her last job (with her mom who is a reputable masseuse) but didn’t like it since men who had interests other than “just a massage” came to the Spa and she didn’t work in that area. When I told her we had a dog that is a big part of our family, she said “I will have two babies then”. I thought that we finally hit jackpot.

I spent a couple of months getting all the paperwork ready in order to bring her to Cyprus. A big part of that was to get a transit visa to Turkey for her since she would have had to fly to Cyprus from there. In Turkey, they are supposedly very strict with issuing transit visas to Filipinos since they lie to enter Turkey and then work there illegally. So they asked for a contract, which we prepared and sent to her, to read it over and agree to it. She agreed to everything. Meanwhile, I asked her to get her medical tests done since HIV, Hepatitis and some other tests are required in order to have a work permit issued here. She asked for money to get her tests done, for traveling to the Capital and for her POEA papers there-in total $600. I gave them to her without questioning her, she said we could deduct it from her paycheck when she gets here. I had also told her we would pay for her plane ticket to come here, we just wanted her to fulfill her 2-year contract.

Long story short, she finally made it to Cyprus. While she was here working for us, we paid for her everything-from her toothbrush to her cellphone. She had her own room with cable and DVD player and her own bathroom in our house. We just wanted her to be good to our son, and not much else. We have a housekeeper that cleans our place once a week, so I didn’t expect her to do much cleaning (which most live-in nannies do in Cyprus). She was very good with our son. We were very pleased with that and were willing to do anything to keep her happy. We order take out often from expensive restaurants and we always asked her what she wanted and got her anything she asked for. I always asked if she wanted something from supermarket and went out of my way to get them. When we went out to eat as a family, we always took her along. We treated her as part of our family. She never ever said thank you and always acted as if it was our duty to get her whatever she wanted. We so desperately wanted a good nanny for our son that we overlooked all her flaws.

After a month and a half of working for us, she made up a lie that she was drunk and couldn’t come home (!) on her off day. We realized a day later that was a plot she made up in order to distract us from the fact that she was actually on a flight to Turkey. She escaped leaving most of her belongings in our house. She took some of her things and made up a lie as to why she was taking them. It looks like she wanted to work in Turkey, I am guessing not as a nanny, and she used us to get out of the Philipines (since Filipinos cannot leave their country now without a valid contract etc). She took our money. She had us pay for her ticket. She took advantage of us. I am just glad we only spent one and a half months with such an evil person living with us and not a year or two.

She is now living in Turkey illegally. I am writing this so that a manipulative liar like this will not be able to take advantage of innocent families like us. One may come from a poor country but that shouldn’t prevent her from making an honest living.
cyprus_nanny

22 comments:

Song Medina-Babijes said...

Hi. I read your post and can definitely identify with your experience. My husband and I have had a lot of experience with nannies and get goosebumps everytime I read a horror story about them. I've started a blog on nannies myself, and though some are sad stories about them, I praise the really good ones.

Anonymous said...
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Song Medina-Babijes said...

True. This is what's so good about social networking - you get to share common experiences and get ideas on how to deal with it. Best regards!

Just My Two Cents Just Now said...

OP...sorry this happened to you, but like you stated at the end..at least it was only a month and a half..not one or two years.

This woman sounds very shady and I bet she is on her way to scam another family. Hopefully that family will come to ISYN@ and get the dirty details prior to hiring this scam/con-artist.

I hope your next nanny is much better than this one was. The majority of us are. :)

ericsmom said...

wow my husband has to read this! He is from Turkey. I gotta ask him...

So sorry to hear that you were scammed. Like someone mentioned count your blessings that she was only there a short time. Who knows what she could have been capable of doing!!

You guys sound like a great family! I hope you find the perfect match.

ericsmom said...

maybe, see if she is roaming facebook

NANNY OF ONE said...

Dear OP
This is awful that this happened to you. I can honestly say that although there are good Flipino nannies out there, I have heard many horror stories about them as well. I would really suggest in the future hiring a non-Filipano nanny.

For those whom are going to comment about my above statement, let me state that I do address that there are also a lot of families that take advantage of Fliapino nannies as well (paying them less, poor living quatres, etc.)

Anonymous said...
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StrawberryShortKakes said...

Great point, Jedd. I am surprised that nothing has gone missing from your house. Who knows, she may have stolen something and maybe you didn't notice? I don't want to scare you but I am surprised she would do this to you and not try and get more money or possessions from you. She did something terrible and I hope that she feels bad for what she did, but I highly doubt it.

Phoenix said...

you shouldn't explain why you are not able to be at home with your baby and have to go back to work. I and hopefully other people would never judge you on something like that. Going back to work isn't abandoning your child. And you are not trying to skimp out of parenting either. I sensed that you are little apprehensive of what other women will think of you. Don't be. You are a wonderful parent for working so hard.

What a disgrace you couldn't find someone to be kind and honest. The world is full of lunatics

MissMannah said...

I must echo the others and say that I'm glad she was only with you guys for a short while instead of the full two years. I wish I could offer you some advice, but I am flabbergasted that someone would even do something like that and take advantage of someone's hospitality. I'm really sorry that happened.

I also agree with Phoenix that you don't have to be so defensive about going back to work after your baby's birth. You seem to have a wonderful, thriving career and you shouldn't have to give that up. You're definitely taking the right steps to finding good childcare and it wasn't your fault what this woman did to you.

la said...

Well said, Phoenix. It doesn't matter why OP needs childcare: it is neither here nor there. She was scammed and taken advantage of.

Was wondering, OP, maybe I missed it, but did you contact the police? I don't know what the local law enforcement is like where you are.

ELam said...

NANNY OF ONE,

For the love of God, it is F-I-L-I-P-I-N-O!

You're right, that was a pretty crappy statement to make. There are many amazing nannies of ALL ethnicities, and there are many horrible nannies of ALL ethnicities. There are families who treat nannies like dirt and families who treat nannies like gold, again, regardless of their ethnicity.

OP, I am really sorry to hear that this happened to you. I hate hearing about bad things happening to good people! I hope it doesn't cloud your perception of the world of nannies and that you are able to find an amazing nanny that you can trust wholeheartedly, because they are out there waiting for a great employer like you! You've got some great advice, definitely keep an eye on all of your accounts and notify the proper authorities, if possible.

Manhattan Nanny said...

Elam,
As the miscreant is a woman it would be Filipina. Nit picking aside, you are so right, there are good and bad apples from every group, her country of origin is only relevant for identification. Unfortunately stereotypes are common in the nanny world. The word goes around that nannies from ------ are lazy, nannies from ------ are subservient, nannies from -------- love children. It can be disheartening, especially when the moms who fall for this are frequently highly educated women!

OP,
I hope you find a wonderful nanny for your family. They are out there!

Erica said...
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ELam said...

@Manhattan -- thank you for clarifying about it being FilipinA. I was just irritated that nanny of one had it spelt 3 incorrect ways every time she typed it.

Frankie said...

I wonder if I could be of any help.. I am currently a nanny for a family but feel that my time here has run its course. I am based in England but have always wanted to experience nannying abroad. I submitted a post a few weeks ago that is on the website if you scroll down, titled "picking battles is causing a war for this nanny" If you are interested then maybe we could talk? Here is my email - frankie.mostyn@hotmail.com

♫ Amy Darling ♥ said...

Why is the country called the "Philippines?" but the people are called "Filipinos?"

Just saying.....

Song Medina-Babijes said...

@Amy Darling: The Philippines was named after the King Philip II of Spain who ruled during the 16th century. Why were called "Filipinos" is a refinement of the word Philippines. Hope this answers your question. :-)

ivoj said...

hi, i am a filipina living in philippines and seeking a nanny job abroad. I just landed here. What malou did is so unfair to ur family and to us (filipinos). I just want you to kn0w that not all filipino is same like her. She's stupid to do things like that, If I were malou I will treat you the way you treated me. I will take care of ur child and not take you for granted. I want to show the difference between malou's attitude and the real filipino's hospitality. And Im very sorry for what happened.


Please do not hesitate to add me to your facebook friendslist. Http://www.facebook.com/victoriajovi

dr harpreet singh aurora said...

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dr harpreet singh aurora said...

do tell me about nanny requirement honest one in cyprus from INDIA