A tiny bit suspicious of nanny references

[SlicedMelon]

So we have offered a lovely nanny the role and she has provided two references, first name with phone number. I’ve spoken to one who sounded honestly a bit nervous and referenced their child’s ages as exactly the “starting age” of the children in the role as described in her CV (eg said, my two daughters, 5 months and 2 years old rather than 5 and 7 which would be how old they are now - I just feel like a genuine parent would have described children as 5 and 7 and then said something like she started when youngest was a few months old or something like that rather than the exact starting ages?).

I’ve followed up and asked for his full name and wife’s full name and his work email, which he provided, but he doesn’t come up on LinkedIn / neither does company, although there is a website. Is there any other step I could reasonably do to verify this role existed?

I really like her but also don’t want to be relaxed about this considering my spidey senses are going off a bit… could I ask for payslips or something?

I’d also counsel you to take care @SlicedMelon

You have found this young woman to be personable and convincing once before. There isn’t any guarantee that what she has now told you is any more true than her first story unless she has been able to direct you to independent sources to verify it. Don’t be fooled by any documents which she may have shown you as almost anything can now be mocked up very easily and convincingly using Chat GPT or other AI tools.

Please don’t consider employing her because you feel sorry for her and she made a good first impression. Going back to work after having a child is hard enough. If anything goes wrong with this woman looking after your children, the added guilt on top of any upset will be devastating