Ask Others
There are numerous adoption scam boards that you can check to see if anyone has had contact with an expectant mom or if a story sounds familiar. You can always ask AFMC if anyone had complaints about an expectant mom.
Background Checks
You can run background checks on an individual. It is relatively easy and inexpensive. Search police records, criminal lookup, public records, arrest records and mugshot records.
Birth Mom Expenses
ALL monetary exchange with an Expectant Mother needs to go through a 3rd party (agency or attorney) and be verified as a legal cost expense. Check your state adoption laws for qualifying birth mom expenses. Adoption laws varies from state to state.
Expectant Mom in Crisis
Often a scammer will have a crisis situation and need immediate funding for something. Refer her to your attorney, counselor, social worker, or agency.
Face To Face Contact
Face-to-face contact needs to be made. Excuses and delaying meeting are a red flag. If she can’t meet with you personally, hire an attorney, counselor, social worker or agency to (act on your behalf) and facilitate the process having face-to-face interactions with her.
Pregnancy Verification aka: Vetting
Have a social worker, agency or attorney acquire authorization to proof of pregnancy and medical history. A pregnancy verification form that an Expectant Mother provides from her doctor, clinic or hospital confirming pregnancy, STILL needs to be verified by a qualified professional.
Search
Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Yahoo and even a Google search can provide information on repeat scammers. They normally use the same material to scam again. Such as name, picture, sonogram even the same story. Search these databases using their name, email address, phone number and even IP address. For pictures, drag and drop them into the search bar.
Trust Your Gut
You will be venerable and emotional. That is completely normal. Be cautious and trust your gut and instincts. Don’t let the adoption scammers take away from your family journey. This is your family story!
Types of Adoption Scams
With the Internet, it seems that adoption scams are becoming more and more common. Don’t let the fear of a scam stop you from proceeding in your adoption journey. – Expectant Mother who is working with multiple adoptive parents. Looking for “birth mom expenses” which is different in each state. *financial assistance with living expenses, medical treatment, and emotional attachment. An allegedly Expectant Mother who is not pregnant. These women try exploiting families for money or emotional bonding. Adoption Professional impersonators, someone who presents an available situation and provides adoptive families details of a “match” to multiple families in order to collect their “non-refundable fees” then the placement suddenly “falls through,”.