ESL Scams Part 2: Exotic Locations
In Part 1 of this series, we examined the "The Money Up Front" scam. In this scam, a school asks the potential teacher for 'commitment' or 'processing' fees before the commencement date of employment. In part 2, we explore the use of Exotic Locations in explaining the attraction and success of teaching scams through the example of my own personal experience with a scam two years ago in Valencia, Spain. Scams that use exotic locations such as Valencia, which is not a popular city for English as Second Language, convolute the first kind of scam by offering these "money up front" fees as refundable. They also locate their scams in exotic locations, by which I mean a city or a country with small ESL markets and in a location where research into the school or their offers is difficult to ascertain.
The two most important points to remember as a guard against being tempted into considering applying to a scam job are: only work in large ESL markets, like Europe and Asia, and do not trust personalized emails from companies you have never contacted. I ignored these two rules of thumb and was nearly fleeced of $750. Personalized emails are like receiving prizes from Publishing Clearing House, only grandmothers believe this junk mail. These scam companies' access databases from ESL job sites. And European and Asian job markets are full of shady jobs as well, so it pays to do some research into the job markets, some of which you can find right here on ESL Daily's archives.
Valencia, Spain's third largest city, is located on the East coast of Spain, where the famous party island of Ibiza lies less than a 100 km out. It's a beautiful city over 2000 years old and boasts a Mediterranean climate. An opportunity to work in Valencia is overwhelming. However, Spain's, like the Czech Republic's, ESL market is very particular. The majority of teaching positions are offered through TESOL certification courses, which guarantee job placement after the completion of the program. Schools in Spain are not known to recruit many teachers outside of these programs. When I was offered a position through a personalized email by a school in Valencia, Spain, I should have been suspicious, but I wasn't, yet.
Over the course of three weeks, I contacted the school, received a contract and numerous assurances of the school's authenticity, which I demanded, and began to book a ticket for my flight. The following are some excerpts of emails I received from the human resources manager of the school with whom I primarily dealt: (spelling and grammar mistakes are original)
"We have received your mails and all you stated were clearly understood. The nest thing you have to do now is to go ahead and remit the commitment fee immediately and send us the detailed information of the transfer so that we can start arranging for your arrival immediately. Like i stated in my last mail to you, pay the money to the financial director by name John Paul. And send the security to us for documentation. Then when coming, come with your payment receipt because it is refundable upon arrival. Please you have to be fast in all you do because we have limited time from now. In addition, please let us know the exact date you will like to come in the first week of September. Hope to see you in Spain soonest."
The next email is from the school's director after I made repeated attempts to contact him by phone and ask him some more questions about the school and the offer:
During our telephone conversation, network was too flauntuating and secondly I was very busy in the office that time. You know school will be resuming on the 18th September and there is a lot of work load for me and the vice principal to tidy up before the commencement of the resumption date. I went for schools board of directors meeting that was why you couldn't get me when you called first. I was even supposed to go with the vice principal but due to the work load in the office, I asked him to stay back. You asked about when the school started. Well, the school started in 2000/01 in Valencia. Spain. For more clarification I will attach the schools approval certificate from Spanish Department of Education. If there are more questions, you can make it snappy. I hope you know you are suppose to be in Valencia before 15th of September and confirmation of your payment will gear off the processing of your travel documents.
Since I didn't know much about Spain or its ESL schools, I continued to ask the school about their history and operation. The more I inquired the more agitated the human resources manager, and finally the principal, became. The aggressive nature of these emails shows this. In my research into the teaching position, I was unable to find any official record of the school anywhere in Spain, or any mention of them in ESL school listings. The address of the school did exist, but no record of the school at that address could be found on any database or map. If they had been operating for six years, there should have been a listing somewhere in Spain – even a phone book with a matching phone number – of the business.
When I finally reached the principal by phone, the first thing he did was yell at me that I had not yet deposited the money through Western Union. The fee he wanted was $750 for processing immigration papers. Visa papers never run more than a hundred dollars in Asia and Europe. I was paying for my flight to Spain, so there was reason to put money up front. The job offered 1350, which is decent money for an ESL job in Spain. The school used the location and the promise of a refund as a lure to swindle me. The only way I avoided this was to continue to prod the school with questions and use the experience I have as a teacher and my last remaining thread of common sense to deduce the offer was a scam.
ESL Daily would like to hear from you. If there are scams you know about or have been privy to, please leave a comment. The only way to thwart the threat of scams is to make other teachers aware of them through out collective experience. If you wish to contribute to ESL daily, you may contact us at jim@esldaily.org
I was offered a job with a school called "XXXXX International" in Malaga, Spain. The job offered an apartment, great pay, a flight ticket, and even the opportunity to sign a short-term contract for a person who would need a visa to work in the EU, which seemed odd since it's a lot of work to go through for just a short contract. I was notifified that I had been accepted for the job via email which read "congratulations, you are one of 6 out of 89 that have been offered a job!" Shocking odds obviously written to make me feel special, but too good to be true?
After I saw the contract that read "Span" instead of "Spain," I was very hesistant because of all things, how could they spell their own country wrong? It seemed like the whole process was moving fast and they encouraged me to sign the contract asap so that I could start the visa process--by filling in some visa forms they had supplied me via email. I began to email with questions about the job, what the classes were like, etc. and received ok answers. On the contract it read that the school was registered with the Ministry of Education, which I decided to follow up on. After calling the national and local ministry, I could not find anything about the school, so I finally emailed them and asked if they could point me in the right directon. I never heard from them again, even though they had always been very responsive throughout the other parts of their "interview" process.
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Great comment
Prior to signing a contract no matter where, you should always be aware of the implications and keep you eye open for anything that can tip you off on what your future will be like. Sorry I had to delet the actual name of the school, but I think readers get the idea.Reply to this
It's interesting you had a similar experience with Spain. The school that I talk about in the article also claimed they were registered with the Ministry of Education. They went as far as sending me an email with a certificate and official looking seal from the Ministry. Obviously I could have made a better one with photoshop.
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There are plenty of horror stories of people getting into real mess by believing the "volunteer" ESL programs, supposedly intended to help the "poor" in the third world.
One particular example is Mr. Jack - Chinese fellow from the city of Yantai, Shandong Province, P.R. China. He operates couple very well made American & British websites, cunningly created to attract the innocents.
The catch is - they offer you to see another country by means of teaching some poor kids as a volunteer.
The truth is - they rent you out to a school teaching middle-class Chinese, and make money of you and of the school & of the kids.
How?
They ask you to pay the "accomodation" fee - usually few hundred Euros or Dollars and then once you're here, in the Third World, they keep milking you for all other stuff - visas, registrations, food, transportation & whatever. And that's on top of you forking out your own airfare both ways.
At the same time they make deals with corrupt school & local government officials, who pay them part of your official salary that you won't even know you have.
The truth?
There are zillions of paying jobs in China, in any city for a native or a fluent English speaker with a talent or interest in teaching. If you work for any public school or college or university, they'll take you in with open arms & will provide, according to the State Bureau of Foreign Experts in the field of Education guidlines the following:
A basic salary to cover your immediate expenses (not much, but enough to live on)
Free accomodation - small, crammy, but usually fully furnished little flat.
Free utilities - electricity & water.
90% reimburcement of all medical expenses
Reimburcement of one way or round trip airfare upon completion of your contract
State contract & work permit from State Bureau of Foreign Experts in the field of Education
Often some other little nice favors like free meals or Chinese language classes.
And once you get a basic job like that, you can free-lance & get extra income from tutoring or working part time or teaching in private schools.
And why volunteer & come to a city in China with 300 paid foreign teachers, only to find out that you are the sucker that paid "Jack" & will have to slave away for that retard for the next 3 months or a year???? Think about & tell others!!!!
China doesn't need volunteers. Beijing allocates plenty of money for schools, colleges & universities to hire foreign teachers. The money comes from the Central government, not from the school's pocket, so even schools in remote locations can get one or two foreigners to teach there.
With all the best wishes,
Dmitrii G. Coclea
Foreign teacher in Yantai for 6 years.
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Thanks for the tips. I have always believed that if you wish to volunteer as a teacher (or any help) in any country, you should do it through an internationally recognized agency. Perhaps through Red Cross, a church organization or through the government. The fact is, China is really picking up the ESL market, and a lot of people are starting to make money. Volunteering for an individual is walking into a big trap.
Hope to hear from you soon Dmitrii.
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I just wanted to relate three efforts at a scam which happened to me. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, I was familiar with scams since I was a victim a couple of years ago from Malaysia. This time, the scams came from Nigeria, which raised a red flag immediately, and the Dubai.
I have taught in South Korea, Taiwan, and China. None of those ever asked me for any money. Some had better contracts and salaries than others, but never any scams for me from there. I am sure there will probably be some soon, but hopefully the governments there will be able to control them.
The one from Dubai sounded realistic and without an outlandish salary, etc. It came from a person who purported to be a recruiter initially. Then it was followed up a few days later from what was supposed to be a school, BXXXXXXX Language School, in Dubai. Later I received a letter of committment/contract which all sounded very normal. The red flag came on this one when I was asked by what was supposed to be an agency in Dubai who arranged for the work permit and visa. They asked for US$320 to be send via Western Union to cover these costs and then my documents would be ready in sent to me within 3 days. RED FLAG! Never pay for anything in advance.
I immediated contacted the UAE Embassy in Washington, DC and talked to someone in Visas/Work Permits. I was told that this was not legitimate. He told me that no school in Dubai would ever ask for money in advance, and that I should immediately sever any communication with them. I did this and have not heard from them again.
The offers from Nigeria have been many. Always a similar story asking for a private teacher for his wife and 2 children. I have always refused to pay any money for anything, therefore, they get tired of trying and, I guess they move on to another potential victim. They realize I am not going to send any money, so they are wasting their time. Even after telling many of these people in advance that I will never pay any money in advance they continue until it is evident that I will not send any money.
My advice to any teacher who gets supposed job offers that ask for money for visas or work permits to be sent is to never send any money. Once you send money, it is gone. You will never be reimbursed nor will you ever get any of the documents or the job. NEVER SEND ANY MONEY! This should raise a red flag to everyone.
Hope this will help someone. Just be alert and aware.
A good idea is to always contact the Embassy of the country where the offer is being made. You can always call or email the embassy in Washington, DC and get information and an answer from someone there. They may help. I wish I had known to do this earlier when I had my first offer from Malaysia several years ago.
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Thanks for expressing your experiences and advise. One thing I always do is ask for contact information from previous teachers. If they refuse me access to other teachers, it makes me think twice about where I am going. Calling the government may help if it is a large organization, however, unless you speak the local language, a smaller place of business may not be listed and the people you are contacting may not fully understand your English. I also have noticed that the scams from Nigeria are on the rise. Someone is probably sending the emails from a list that he got off of one teaching websites.
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I have been reading your columns since my girlfriend and I first started to plan our arrival in Valencia about a year ago. We've been in Valencia and teaching for several months now. The article http://blog.esldaily.org/2008/03/15/esl-scams-part-2-exotic-locations.aspx is a typical "modality" used by Nigerian 419 scammers. The agitation came about when you took the lad off script. Typically, their initial messages are all scripted as the scammers' English ability is limited. See http://www.419eater.com
Both of us received our TEFL certifications before arrival, but could have been easily lured by certification with guaranteed job placement in Spain. The problem is that Americans don't have and won't get work authorization and schools don't bother with interviewing until an American actually arrives and can interview in person. That's a huge venture for someone who may have to convince family and friends of the rationale of traveling halfway across the world with no job at hand. I have EU work papers but still found that schools would only meet with me once I actually arrived in Valencia. I really admired my girlfriend who is not an EU citizen and had the courage to come here and find work and an apartment on her own. It's certainly possible to do so.
Spain is still one of the most popular places in the world to teach EFL. Schools receive hundreds of resumes from prospective teachers who express an "interest" in coming to Spain. No wonder that scams exist as it appears to be a surefire way to land a job (have it guaranteed) before your arrival. My advice to those considering Spain is save up at least 2000 Euros and plan your arrival for September or December and invest in a bicycle and comfortable pair of walking shoes. I have lived in about 15 different countries around the world and can confidently suggest the the warm and sunny complexion of the country and people of Spain as a must-do in one's lifetime.
Best regards
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Thanks for that Patric
Hope people realize the implications of the job placements in Spain. I have had several friends that actually now don't even want to try to come to Spain because there first attempt turned out to be a scam. Hope people do not get discouraged from going to Spain from all the scams around. It truly is a beautiful country.
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I just finished reading the second part of your scam series. I had the same thing attempted on me by a "school" in Ghana about two years ago. Even after I figured out they were a scam they tried to convince me that I owed them for an airpline ticket they claimed to have purchased for me. I asked for a copy of the airline receipt and, of course, they stopped contacting me.
Such "nearly obvious' scams are a challenge. But a more dubious challenge is the false presentation by schools here in Mexico. A rule of thumb I have learned is: if the school suddenly needs a teacher in the middle of the year, it is most likely a difficult school to work in. My latest adventure was in a school for which I was the third teacher of the year. The principal told me that the coordinator who would be supervising me is "tough". My experience, as well as word from other teachers and comments by students, is that the coordinator is an out-of-control bully who is running as fast as he can so as not to be caught in his extreme incompetence. After he unsuccessfully attempted to intimidate me by referencing a non-existent video tape of my teaching, he then directed me to give certain students zeros for daily scores regardless of the student's actual achievement in class. I was fired for yelling at the students. In order to protect myself against further maltreatment, I have had to retain an attorney!
While I started the school year at another school, I was again mislead. My orientation included information about an incident the previous year in which an experienced and trusted teacher had struck a student. [Clue: experienced, trusted teachers rarely strike students unless it is a misdirected outburst - like very angry with the administration.] The owner of the school told me that the administration was disorganized. I soon found out that her English was faulty and she meant to say incompetent; e.g., during the first weeks of work, with the schools authorization, I took a couple hours in the morning once a week to go to the Migracion office downtown to complete the process of obtaining legal working papers. In each case the school had at least four days notice and usually a week. That notice was in writing with verbal reminders. In each case, the school DID NOT make any arrangements for covering my classes. On day, the sixth grade class sent a delegate to the office to advise that they had been without adult supervision for quite a while. This is only an indication of the schools lack of care and concern for the students. When I expressed my anger regarding this treatment of students, a disciplinary hearing was held to criticize my classroom management and restrict me from using normal techniques to manage my class- the message was very clear - we no longer desire you services - I left. Oh - this is also a school that, and I have the evidence, falsifies official assessment score reports to the Mexican government.
teacher.steven@hotmail.com
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Thanks for your comments Steve. I hope others heed to your advise and keep an eye open for signs of traps and scams in the ESL market place. While in another country you must always protect yourself and be aware of what may happen. Keep up the support and hope to here from you soon.
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These are definitely some interesting insights into one of the problems and pitfalls of being an EFL professional. It is most unfortunate that scams in ELT abroad are on the rise. Not only are EFL teaching job scams becoming a problem, but other types of scams as well. This can be especially true in Mexico and Latin America. The "Latin Fantasy", "Pesca Milagrosa" and "Pacquete Chileno" are some of the most commonly-attempted fleecing operations encountered by foreigners. Locals target you because they know your communicative ability in the local language may well be limited or virtually non-existent and you lack an in-depth knowledge of local culture, procedures and customs. Regretfully, there isn't space to detail those scams here but anyone interested in more detailed versions of these scams is free to visit my blog, "Becoming a Better EFL Teacher" at: http://bettereflteacher.blogspot.com/
Sincerely,
Prof. Larry M. Lynch
Santiago de Cali University
Cali, Colombia
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First off, I want to make it clear that I sympathise with the author of this article BUT...
You have got to be really silly to even entertain this type of scam. If you were even tempted to procede with the whole thing, then you need to be a little more worldly. The spelling mistakes make it clear that they, the 'scammers' are not from the TEFL world. I started working in Valencia 16 years ago (I now live in Madrid) and I can tell you there is plenty of work there. 1350 is NOT a salary in Spain if you are in the TEFL business and are serious. You can make at least 2000 in 12 paycheques. 1350! come on!
Valencia is a HUGE telf industry (America's cup x 2, Formula 1, city with most museums and lots and lots of tourism etc. It is obvious the author, as he rightly says, knows zip about the industry and even less than zip about Spain's EFL industry.
Is he a US citizen? Is he informing himself in Wikipedia or what?
I sympathise, yes, but only just. The bright side - he now is a little more worldly! ;.)
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I understand your reasoning, however you would be surprised how many people do get scammed into these situations. Since this article was posted I have received probably a good dozen ESL/EFL teachers that have had experience being scammed. You would think that people would do research on the internet but that does not always happen... it does happen. Maybe not to you or I, but people have to be warned of these situations.
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