List of TEFL scams and warnings

SAME SCAM UNDERWAY! NEW NAME – VERY PROFESSIONAL

Contacted by Sandy Qui (qisandy3@gmail.com) to email Marcus Ekman at Dexerials Corporation in Japan (hrdesk@dexerialscorp.com)

Marcus claiming to be the HR Manager. The email was sent from hrdesk@dexerialscorp.com. Dexerials is an electronic company in Japan, but has the domain .jp, not .com.

They offered a flexible online Business English teaching position of 10-20 hours per week at $50/hour. The teacher sent their CV and cover letter and arranged an interview online via Skype. Within 3 hours of the interview they were offered the job and sent a contract to sign. They were also asked to approach the Asia Bureau Service in Japan (https://asiabureauservices.com/ and info@asiabureauservice.com). Was asked NOT to use GMAIL due to VPN issues.

Following red flags:

1. All the emails were very generic and not addressed to the teacher personally.
2. The video for the Skype interview was very low resolution, with no audio.
3. The interviewer (Marcus Ekman) then communicated via the chat (IM) function stating that the connection appeared to be poor and that the teacher should try and call him back on Skype. This didn’t work, so he asked if he could send the teacher a list of questions. This list arrived on Dexerials company letterhead. The teacher was asked if they could record video with their answers.
3. Within just 2 hours of the interview the teacher received an email with a job offer.
4. The teacher received the contract, which contained rather generic conditions more suited to a permanent employment contract and not a remote online job (such as housing allowance, etc.)
5. I received communication from the Asia Bureau Office and MY SOUTH AFRICAN CONSULAR NATIONAL SERVICES (legalisation@dirco.gov.za ) informing me that they needed to complete an application for some sort of security clearance. The timeframe for all this correspondence was just a couple of hours – a questionably quick turnaround time for such departments in my country. NOTE THEY MUST HAVE HACKED INTO THE GOV WEBSITE BECAUSE THIS IS THE CORRECT .gov.za ADDRESS!
6. There is no mention of a Marcus Ekman working at Dexerials based on a quick search.
7. I was asked to pay USD810 for the security check to a Japanese Mizhuo bank account.
8. The pay was $50/hour – very high.

ESL Teacher & Nanny Needed in London
Dwells Family
United Kingdom, London

Our family will like to discuss the possibilities of having you joining our family to become our family esl teacher childcare provider to our lovely children here in London, United Kingdom.

Your main duty is to tutor English language to our children and ensure that the kids are well taking care of, this includes full care of the children like waking them up and getting them ready for school, putting them to bed at the right bed time, meal and snack preparation for the children, schedule and implementation of age-appropriate activities and child’s development, keeping the children’s room tidy and organized, and any other children’s activities that might come up and see to their generally well-being.

5 days a week, 6 hours a day, and 30 hours a week with 2 days off a week

Our family will take care of your travel expenses

• Separate room, live-in accommodation
• Monthly salary
• Health and medical care
• Insurance cover
• Vacation allowance
• Enrollment on a childcare course to help you acquire childcare skills

ESL teaching experience, first aid, nanny, babysitter or aupair experience needed.

Email your resumeCV to – dwellsfamily16@gmail.com

“I am one of the victims. The ‘real’ school at Casale Monferrato has a warning about this on their web page, and I am not the first victim. They seem to target those who are not EU nationals. However, they tell me that other smaller schools have likewise been fraudulently represented. The way you can know for sure is if they put you in contact with a so-called immigration attorney called Luca Andrea, who does not exist. Be warned – these people can be very convincing with receipts and details.”

Hi
As owner of OYE I was really disturbed to learn that someone has been scamming people by pretending to offer jobs.
Please be clear that we have reported this to the police and asked Google to close down the fraudulent web page.
I took on board the comments re our web page and poor design. Hopefully it looks better now, we are a small school which focuses on preparing high standard course material rather than marketing ourselves. Obviously we need to improve a few things!!
Also we have no fixed phone line as this would be another cost which would be reflected in class prices.
Our objective is to provide small classes of a high standard at a reasonable price.

“Dear Teacher

I trust you are doing great! I am Evang Pab from Cucuta and presently residing here in the United Kingdom with
My family which comprises of my wife Sara, and two kids by name, Mia, and Gael

I am in need of an English teacher to come and teach my wife and kids for a period of one year here before they can enroll for formal education, Compensation and Benefits Package.: A very attractive monthly salary of is GBP6,000 Paid monthly, Quality single or family housing upon your arrival here, medical insurance, vacation allowance etc…

If you are interested in coming to work for me kindly send me your detailed resume and cover letter to evang_pabyesid@live.com
Thank you for your anticipated response…

Cheers
Evang Pab”

“Dear —
Nice hearing from you.
Do you have work/residential permit visa to use here?
cheers
Evang Pab”

“I have been in contact with this individual. Please share any additional information you may have, such as what did he ask for, e.g., money, bank account information, etc. The more details you can share, the better informed everyone will be. Simply telling us what he advertised or that he may “potentially” be asking for money to process a visa, does not tell us whether or not he actually HAS requested any personal information or money. I’m trying to get more details from this potential scammer so I can share it on the forum, but so far he has not asked for anything that makes me overly cautious. I do not want to wrongly accuse someone of doing anything amiss until I have all the facts. Thanks!”

“We are not hiring through other websites, we are victims of an internet scam. Contact us only through this webpage.”

“The visa fee is to be paid to the cashier via money transfer (Money Gram, Western Union or Ria Money Transfer ) with the below details.

Payment Details.
Cashier’s name: Name-***
(Name-***)
Office address: Málaga, 5516, Spain.

Do e-mail us with the payment receipt after payment. “

I received the following scam from someone claiming to be from the University of Vienna. I had spoken to someone who had a University of Vienna skype account, but the email does not match the university’s email scheme and the email is suspect. I was later asked to send money to a personal bank account to pay for apartments.

“Dear —,

This is to inform you that you have been officially selected to work with the Language department of the University of Vienna Austria. We are delighted to offer you this full time ESL teaching position because we feel that your skills, qualifications and experience will contribute immensely to the growth of ESL at the University.

A detailed work contract, endorsed by a University authority and the Austria Employment authority is attached to this email.

You are advised to review the contract thoroughly and get back to us with a signed copy at the earliest possible time, if you are satisfied with the contents.

Please print out the contract, complete the necessary information carefully with a blue or black pen in bold letters, sign at the space provided below,scan and return the signed contract as an attachment through email.

You will be constantly updated and well informed about the visa process (If required) and other necessary preparations for your arrival, training in Spain and job commencement.

Further information about housing and visa documentations will be sent upon receipt of the signed contract.

Congratulations!

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Nicola Kraml

University of Vienna, Austria.”

“We are seeking native English speakers teachers for Class room teaching position. Location of this job is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Contract term: 12-24 Months
Minimum 25 teaching hours per week
Starting: January/February 2017 and recruitment

Take home salary: 14,700 MYR without bonus (bonus to be discussed)
Paid holiday
School lunch
Accommodation and Medical Insurance

Bachelor or above degree
Native English speakers; nationalities from UK, USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand are preferred
For teaching young children and adults, good communication skills and patience would be required.
Be responsible and professional; be punctual and consistent in attendance.
Certifications in TEFL, EL, TESL, TESOL, CELTA or equivalent are a plus.
The act of teaching must have an outgoing personality, good interpersonal relations, patience, and have a genuine love for all students.
How to apply
Please send us your CV, certificate, cover letter and other related documents to:
sriutamacareer@gmail.com

All your documents will be strictly on employment purpose.”

Hello, very new to the site and wanted to share this. I applied for a job on a different site for a job teaching in Ghana. They set up a skype interview and during the interview the man had said that job is taken but there is a job opening in Cameroon. I thought about it. I am adventurous by nature. This same scam seems to have been talked about on this same forum before. They said they will pay $1000/week net pay.

“I applied for a job at Segi University. It was listed on several ESL job board sites and the initial email was sent to info@segiuni.org. If you click on the link in the adverts, it does take you to the school’s legit website.

I was given a Skype interview, but no video. The contact was listed as Segi Uni. After a few days, I received a job offer, which requested a guarantee fee. I replied that I would like details and would like to talk to current teachers. I then went to the website and clicked on the contact us page. I noticed that the email address was slightly different @segi.edu.my. So I sent an email and asked if they had an hr representative by the name of Yong Vafa and did I receive an offer from their university.
I received a reply email from Jason Liew stating that there was no such person working at Segi and many people had become trapped by this issue. I want to let people know because if you google Segi University of Yong Vafa nothing comes up.”

“Job benefits include return air ticket,accommodation assistance,health insurance,21 days paid holidays,visa assistance, monthly tax-free salary- 2700 Euro and contract completion bonus.
Working days are Monday to Friday.This full time position has a work load of
25 hours weekly and a class size of 17 students per class.

One year contract starts from the 12th of January 2015 and ends on the 10th
of January 2016.(contract is renewable).

eslteachers@stgilgenintlschool.com”

“Dear _____,

Thanks for your prompt response!

We understand your doubts,it is quite normal.We are so sorry
that you have been scammed in the past.Be reassured that there there
is no room for such ill practices here in St. Gilgen due to high security
network.Also,St. Gilgen International School is a reputable firm that maintains its standards at every level.If you decide to reject the contract after payment for any reason, your money must surely be refunded,though ten percent of the total amount may be deducted for paper works.

As we are approaching the end of the year,and the Christmas holiday has
already commenced.We are unable to receive direct bank transfers,as
our Auditors are already busy with the end of year audits. An attempt to wire funds directly to our banks at this time of the year could cause much delay in the visa process(if required) and other formalities.As a result of such delay,your arrival deadline and job commencement must surely be affected

In order to speed up the entire process and eliminate delay you are advised to send the guarantee deposit through MONEYGRAM TRANSFER ,as it is one of the most reliable,efficient and secured means of receiving money here in St.Gilgen,Austria.

While we wait patiently for the signed contract, kindly address the payment to the School Barrister who will be taking care of the paper works through out the entire process.

Please be notified that the process of securing the necessary papers for your arrival and job commencement may take up to 25 working days,a lot of paper work is involved.This is why we need to be extremely sure of your agreement prior to spending our time,energy and money to acquire the necessary papers for you.

Below is the Barrister’s name:

RECEIVER’S NAME: Ekeh Godian
Address:St. Gilgen International School,Ischlerstrasse 13 ,St. Gilgen, Austria.

Other travel arrangements will be disclosed to you later,precisely
after registering your name at the Austrian Education Authority.This
registration will be done upon receipt of the required fees.

Once more, as soon as your payment is confirmed,we shall reserve
your accommodation,register your name at the office of the
Austrian Education Authority and proceed with further preparations
for your arrival.The School Barrister will also issue you a properly
endorsed receipt as proof of payment.

.. Kindly send the transfer details to this
email address: info@stgilgenintlschool.com

NB: Do not forget to scan and attach a copy of the payment
slip/receipt,it will to be kept in your record for future reference.
Please keep the original copy of the payment receipt in a safe place,
it will be needed during the time of reimbursement.

You are expected to arrive between the 19th and 20th of February in order
to attend the orientation program.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Warm regards,
Tanja.
“

“Thank you for the information. I applied for the same job and went through the whole process and sent in my resume and copy of degrees. I even got a call for an interview and the call came from the St Gilgen school number and i did some research and found out that scammers spoof telephone numbers and hide the number they are calling from and on my phone i see the real school number. I am waiting for the call at 2pm for that so called interview.”

“I also applied to this job, went through the entire process, sent my degrees, CV and even received two phone calls supposedly from the school. As soon as I was informed that I had to deposit 2000 euros in some bank account in a foreign country I knew something was up. Their email domain is based somewhere in India and they were asking for a deposit in a Scandinavian Bank. The man that spoke to me had a very heavy German accent and pretended to be talking to the secretary e.g he even said: Tanja can you bring me her file? It seemed very real. Anyway, when I called the actual School they informed me that knew about this problem and that they had not contacted me via phone.
I found the ad on the Indeed Austria website. I hope this helped someone out there!”

“I was a “victim” of a scam by someone posing as St Gilgen International School. I found the job opening on Indeed Austria and they were looking for an ESL teacher. I went through written and phone interviews and they called me using the actual phone number at St Gilgen’s. Once I got an email that I had to deposit 2000 euros in a bank account in either Sweden or FInland (I cant recall) I knew something was wrong. So I had someone look into it and he found the email domain was based in Mumbai India. The email was different than that on the official website. The one used by the scam is info@stgilgenintlschool.com but the original is @sgis.at I hope this has helped and something can be done about it.”

“The Montcalm Luxury Hotel
34-40 Great Cumberland Pl Marb
England
W1H 7TW
United Kingdom
Tel: 447509351889
recruitment@themontcalmlondon.co.uk
http://www.montcalm.co.uk

Job Recruitment At The Montcalm Luxury Hotel.
United Kingdom, England

Job details
The Montcalm Luxury Hotel London: Have immediate employment opportunities. The Montcalm Hotel intends to invite experienced individuals/expatriates or Consultancy firm capable of rendering expertise services in various fields of Business Management, M.B.A (Finance), Administrative and Commissioning, The Montcalm Hotel has immediate employment/Vacancies in following Designations. Accountant, Duty Manager, Front Manager, Sales Manager, Receptionists, Drivers, Bar boy, Cook, Food & Beverage Cost Controller/Manager, Public relations, Store keeper, Restaurant services and Mechanical engineering.

*Associate or Bachelors Degree from a reputable institution.
* Fresh graduates are welcome to apply.
* Excellent communication and administration skills.
* Well groomed and good personality.

kindly E-mail their Resume/CV and a latest photograph to the Human Resources

Department Email address: recruitment@themontcalmlondon.co.uk”

From Montcalm web-sites:

Recruitment Fraud Warning
It has come to our attention various individuals and organisations are contacting people offering false employment opportunities at The Montcalm at The Brewery London City. We are taking this matter extremely seriously and reporting any apparent fraudulent activity to the relevant authorities.

Recruitment Fraud Warning
It has come to our attention various individuals and organisations are contacting people offering false employment opportunities at The Montcalm London Marble Arch. We are taking this matter extremely seriously and reporting any apparent fraudulent activity to the relevant authorities.

http://www.montcalm.co.uk/careers-125.html
See > Recruitment Fraud Guidance.

“Teachers wanted

Due to on going expansion project in Trent College, we seek to employ experience Foreign teachers to the following subjects; Mathematics, English, Physics, Music, History, Geography, Chemistry, Biology, French etc. Location of this Job is Nottingham, England (UK). Salary range is attractive. Free accommodation, feeding and Medical health care.If you’re interested and ready to relocate, send your cv and certificate immediately.”

“Dear —–

Your job application placement here at Trent College has been received. Location of this Job is Nottingham, England (UK). Trent College shall provide free accommodation, Medical health care. Salary is 96,000 Pounds per annual. make sure all your documents are genuine as we shall be contacting your references and the school where you acquire your certificate, if we find out that there is any false documents we shall terminate your application.

After examining of your cv (Resume), below are on-line interview questions which Trent College management want you to answer. As soon as we receive your responses to our online interview questions, we shall furnish you with more details regarding this job offer and we shall contact you immediately if you’re qualified for this job, note that there shall be no any further interview if your cv and the answers provided satisfied our demand.

Job Questions About Your Qualifications;
What is your full name?
Are you overqualified for this job?
Interview questions about your abilities.
What applicable attributes / experience do you have?
Why are you interested in taking a lower level job?

Interview Questions About the New Job and the School;

Should employees use social media at work?
What interests you about this job?
Why shouldn’t we hire you?
Why should we hire you instead of the other applicants for the job?
Why are you the best person for the job?
What do you know about this School?
Why do you want to work here?
What challenges are you looking for in a position?
What can you contribute to this School?
What do you see yourself doing within the first 30 days on the job?
What position are you applying for?
When will you be ready to start work?

For more INFORMATION and INQUIRIES, don’t hesitate to contact us by Email or Phone. 44 702 4010 653″

“JOB VACANCY IN ST.ERMIN’S HOTEL LONDON

St. Ermins Hotel urgently needs the services of devoted and Hard working workers, who are ready to work after undergoing enlistment training in all sectors.IF you are interested in this opportunity provided by St. Ermin’s Hotel you can contact us with CV/RESUME on this very Email Address for job placement.

St.erminshotelrecruitment@live.com”