Anyone know what this might be about?

We have now had 3 calls from a man claiming to be from a community organisation. He has a Filipino accent. He has spoken to my helper twice and once to me.


Each time he has asked to speak to "the Filipina helper, XXX" - the name of my helper 11 years ago. He knows my name and my address (I do not know how he got this information).


When I said there was no-one at the address with that name, he asked to speak to "my Filipina helper". Thinking it sounded fishy, I told him i didn't have a helper, terminated the call and forgot about it.


He called back today and spoke to my helper who thought that because he knew my name and address he was known to me. In the course of their conversation, she said that he was quite insistent on getting her ID card number, asking repeatedly for it and saying stuff like, "you must have something to hide if you won't give it to me" and "are you working illegally? Is that why you won't give me your ID".


I am pleased to say that despite the harrassment, my helper was steadfast in refusing to give him this information although she was shaken afterwards (I was not home at the time). Judging from his manner and because community organisations don't usually ask for IDs, I'm pretty sure that this is a scam of some sort. He seems to have old records from somewhere and may be ringing around to verify the information.


It would be prudent to remind your helpers not to give out any personal information (about them or you) to strangers, regardless of how "official" they might sound or claim to be.

Have you asked your helper if maybe this is a debt collector, they have been known to harrass emlpoyers, or maybe it is a relative of your DH looking for her.

It is not a debt collector nor a relative of the first helper (I am still in touch with her and know a number of members of her family).


The impression i have is that the caller is trying to obtain a new identity of a helper - name, address and ID - probably to obtain credit under that false name.