To suspect my guest

[Wallywobbles]

So we have someone staying with us in France who we really don't know well. He is Czech (this is relevant). He arrived on Saturday last week. He is meant to be house sitting for us while we are away after Christmas. I have been in hospital with DD2 for a week so he's been home alone in the day, taking care of the animals.

On Thursday this week I noticed that there had been 10 google play payments on my teen DD1s account using her credit card, starting on Monday. None of us have a google play account. All macs/apple household. DD1s card was in her purse in her room, fairly discretely put away, and unused since August.

Duly cancelled card and are awaiting the documents to report the fraud to the bank - docs coming by post. Three more payments went out yesterday, pretty much to be expected - total amount 230€. I know that I am likely to be refunded the money - it'll take up to10 days so that's not really this issue.

Today I went into the bank and was talking about the fraud and asked for a bit more detail about it. I used to work for another branch of this bank so know that they can see more than I can. It turns out all the payments were in Czech Koruna. Up to this point it hadn't really occurred to me that it might be the guest.

I have reported the fraud to google as well.

My question is two fold I suppose.

1. If we talk to guest and ask about this I can't see anyway that it will end well. Can anyone think of a way of asking this without it going down like cold sick? I have no proof that its him, just a single set of suspicious circumstances. But on the other hand, if we don't ask/do something will we come back to our house empty of everything after our trip away?

1. How far will the bank take it? Will they track down the fraud down to the perpetrator? My feeling is probably not? I'm concerned that if we go to the police we either won't get reimbursed (and we do need it) or they won't do anything/will make it worse. I could potentially ask someone at the bank if they can find out more, but I don't know anyone in the right department.

In the UK, I had a fraudulent transaction on my new credit card (had never used it).
When reporting a fruadulent transaction here, The bank/credit card co. will ask you A. whether anyone has access to the card other than you B. Whether you have any suspicion as to who dunnit and C. whether you object to them contacting police.
Is it the same in France?

Pay a dog sitter or something. You mention animals. How many have you got??

How does this work insurance-wise? If he were to steal an object or two, it's not like he's breaking and entering. Assuming the animals could be taken care of by others, wouldn't it be better to leave the house empty? Although I know in rural France of quite a few homes and gîtes that have been totally emptied when vacant...

Hell would freeze over before I left him alone in my house again.

But he has no fixed abode. He has been travelling round for months

For me, this would raise questions around what real checks the "agency" are doing, if any

As a longstanding home exchanger I know a bit about having strangers in the house, but with this the trust comes partly from the fact that you're also in theirs - whereas this guy seems to have nothing to lose

It's also likely that your contents won't be insured against theft while someone else is there in your absence, so although you've said he won't be left alone I'd get him out NOW ... and definitely change the locks

A friend of mine does house and petsits through one of the websites - nothing unusual about it; she's not got a fixed abode either as she's a self-employed writer and uses long housesits as a way to live cheaply and write in interesting locations. The website has lots of reviews from previous clients though.

But everyone saying the OP is strange having someone she doesn't know in the house - it's not unusual and obviously OP can't just get a dog walker if she has lots of animals including horses etc.

It does seem like it's likely him although would be a bold and stupid move while he is still there to steal in that way - he must realise it's traceable? Google payments are always connected to a specific email address so should be able to find out, have you reported to Google Play as well to see if they can look into it?

Is it trustedhousesitters, OP? I'm on there and have done loads of house sits (and have glowing references - shining chufty badge right now). It's unfortunate but as you said - this is why you have that "settle in" period which is actually a great idea.

Hope you get something sorted.

So far you only know about the googleplay fraud (which, yes, was him with bells on unless he has relatives camping under your floorboards who did it.) Call the bloody police! Have you checked nothing else is missing and all private ID docs like passports accounted for? I can't believe your response is 'oh we'll just not leave him unsupervised again'. Are you on Spice? If you don't want to confront or involve police, just fake an emergency which means you no longer need his services and that also makes it inappropriate for him to hang around.

And "no fixed abode" isn't a red flag. This was me for quite a long time. I was self employed and remote working, and house sitting meant I could explore some amazing places without spending much money and getting to hang out with someone else's dogs, chickens, rabbits, tortoises and pigs.

Not everyone conforms to the "norm" of having a house and office job!

Fair enough, Bandersnatch, but I'm afraid it wouldn't work for me

I don't doubt you're totally honest, but in principle it's not something I'd want to chance with someone of whom I had no other prior knowledge ... each to their own and all that

Yep, also fair enough! It's definitely not for everyone.

Puzzled It's the same with any "stranger" you let in your home though isn't it? Cleaners, babysitters, dog walkers, cat sitters, tradesmen etc.

There are certainly easier ways to steal someone's credit card information to shop on Google Play than spending his days looking after someone else's animals - and that's the only reason I'm not 100% jumping to the conclusion it's him. Once it's spent on Google that's it, it's not like he's taken the family jewellery that he could sell for a lot of money.

e230 in Google play? That's insane, they only sell films, music, books, apps don't they? I think I may have spent 99p in the whole time I've had an account which must be over ten years.

Probably a game(s) with in-app purchases which is why the OP is seeing the drip drip of transactions.

However, this cant be accidental unless the DD's card is already used for a Google Play account on a device which he's been given permission to use (eg something like Apple TV) and he hasn't realised that there's a separate charge for every download.

It's a bit odd though as normally you cant use a card from one country in a different country's "store" (at least with App Store) so unless Google Play doesn't have that feature, it's strange that he can use a French registered card to buy items in the Czech store.

It's the same with any "stranger" you let in your home though isn't it?

Up to a point, yes - but many of them aren't there long enough to have a really good root through stuff and others may have no idea of when you might be coming back. You're right, though, that even a quick visitor could grab something before you know it and it's happened to posters on here many times

I was going to ask why using your daughters card and account would result in Czech currency transactions.
It must be linked online already surely and he's just been playing not realising ( or caring) it costs? Bit like running up a phone bill for a country not covered by your plan.

I’ve had my credit card info stolen a few times (data hacks), and the Czech Republic seems to be a common place for these transactions to go through. Twice I had multiple transactions in Czech koruna. Once it was plane tickets but another time it was about a dozen small transactions.

It is a pretty big coincidence in your case, but I wouldn’t be overly confident it’s him.

Like a pp, I would suspect this was a test transaction and perhaps the tip of an iceberg you've yet to uncover, and tbh I'd worry the whole time I was away that I'd either come back to an empty house or to changed locks and a squatter. I'd also be creeped out by the idea of him being in my DD's bedroom!

The Czech currency transactions imply that (if it's him) he's using the card in the Czech version of the GooglePlay store. Just odd that he could use a card with a French billing address to do that but maybe he used a fake billing address and the bank didn't check (no pun intended) for a low value transaction.

Also, if Googleplay can show that the downloads happened in your house you may well not get reimbursed as there's no way of showing that you didn't give him permission to use the card.

OP what a horrible thing to happen. As you say, so much nicer to trust people. I hope this doesn’t spoil that. Have you confronted him yet?

Those of you who are surprised at the OP letting a stranger in her home may never have had an au pair, or live in nanny, or work awayer, or career, or house sitter, but surely you’ve heard of the possibility before this thread?

I think it's the fact he's of no fixed abode, @Booboostwo, and from a different country to boot that's the problem here. There's absolutely no way of tracing this man if he disappeared. That's what would worry me.

I know the OP has his passport details, but nobody at border control is going to stop him for fraud.

What a rotten situation. I commend you for your calm and sensible approach to dealing with this.

I would also like to say that taking care of someone's house and pets in France sounds like a dream to me. Where can I sign on to a system like this?

If only there was a housesitting scheme for Mumsnetters....

We’ve had workawayers stay with us who had no fixed abode because they were travelling around the world. A lovely family, a lovely couple and a slightly useless 20 something. They were all from a different country than both our home countries and the country we live in.

Next time (doubt there will be some, but just in case) ask for a copy of national ID too. It has registered/permanent adress on. Only way not to have it there is to be officially homeless and have the adress of a local council.