The Chinese Teachers Foreign Union Spammers are Back!

Discussion about jobs in Asia inc. Middle East

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John V55
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The Chinese Teachers Foreign Union Spammers are Back!

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Previously, they swarmed over the site like an ants nest, but when a ‘No Follow’ policy was introduced for external links, they quickly disappeared because that’s all they were here for. The no follow policy having been lifted, they’re back. Hi guys, you’re somewhat of a rarity nowadays as most sites not surprisingly ban you. :roll:

Another problem with spam links is that although a low authority site gains kudos from publishing on a higher one, too much of it and Google starts to penalize the higher authority site for allowing low quality links (Google’s penguin algorithm).

Personally I’m all for promotion, but unless you’re being paid for it why would you want to waste your time promoting a link farm spam site that even Google ignores? Using Ahrefs https://ahrefs.com/website-authority-checker, the CTFU scores a website authority of 0.2! No, that’s not a typo. In other words, it’s so blatantly spam related that if you started a website about the colour of Kim Kardshians socks you’d have a higher website authority than CTFU! :)

Here’s my take on it all, written just over three years ago on this site.
viewtopic.php?t=7875
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Cricket
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Re: The Chinese Teachers Foreign Union Spammers are Back!

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Sorry John... You are barking up the wrong tree. I think you are the old guy that used to argue with my wife a few years ago . She was the big fan of the CFTU - not me. But she told me their was an old guy teaching in Mongolia that beat up on people for giving links to the China Scam Patrol and CFTU links but as far as I know they have been off the radar screen since the COVID hit the scene. Not much recruiting going on in Asia these days I think. But being the devils advocate and a big fan of my wife as well I have to say, I just looked at all your posts, well actually not all but a lot since you are a prolific poster. In every single one of your posts you include your resume - are you looking for work John? I thought you retired? At least that is what one of your posts says. Or is it they won't give you a work visa anymore because of your age? With all due respect John someone who includes the same resume link in every one of their posts over and over again for years is SPAMMING to help themselves get work. I am not against self promotion John and I hope you get work (I can see you very qualified). But you should see there is a difference between teachers who want to help others avoid problems with warning or advice posts, versus someone just looking to get hired. I have never promoted the CFTU or ANY groups or organizations. I also have not come to this forum looking for work and unlike yourself I have NEVER sent PMs to people soliciting tutoring nor any other kind of work, and Joe can verify that for you.

I also think everyone has equal rights to speak their mind or opinion whether they have 10 posts or 1,000 posts. The reason ESLCafe went down the toilet and is no longer respected is because the old-timers, and especially the mods have a superiority complex and chase all the new users away. My wife has actually been on this forum a year longer than yourself but she does not try to be the policeman of tefl.net. And IF I one day decide to support any group I will say so openly. But in fact it is dangerous to belong or support any group in China, especially if foreigners are involved. I do believe that both the CTA and CFTU has done a lot of good in the past by telling teachers the truth about visa and government requirements, and if I recall correctly, they were the first tp publish employee labor rights in China which none of us even knew we had - not even you John, according to one of your old posts. Anyway, if you have a beef with the CFTU or anyone else, take it up with them, not me. I don't represent anyone other than myself. I am close to your age, have taught many years, paid my dues, got cheated like everyone else, and am not going to get bullied into silence. If you have something against me personally, send me a PM and I will reply in kind. Btw... that link about the Australian guy, I just searched him on line and that is the same guy who admitted working for the Echinacitoes group and admitted a lot of bad stuff they were doing to tecahers (selling resumes, etc... ) https://chinadailymailscam.wordpress.com/
Before sending off your resume or passport scan, be sure to check https://reddit.com/r/teflscams and to vaccinate yourself against foreign teacher job scams.
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Cricket
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Re: The Chinese Teachers Foreign Union Spammers are Back!

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Follow up to John... Just did some more searching on that guy Craig aka "Traveler" who admitted the dirty tricks of Echinacities and exposed the owner online after he was fired/resigned (depending on who you believe) and went back to Australia. After Craig spilled the beans and admitted his role this link appeared every where and has nothing to do with the CFTU as far as I know https://chinascamwatch.wordpress.com. So in the end a lot of teachers were saved from identity theft. IMO that is a good thing John. Do you disagree?
Before sending off your resume or passport scan, be sure to check https://reddit.com/r/teflscams and to vaccinate yourself against foreign teacher job scams.
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John V55
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Re: The Chinese Teachers Foreign Union Spammers are Back!

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Cricket, I can you lot coming a mile off. :) There’s a difference between speaking out and using a forum as a single issue link farm. Repetitive and reciprocal link spamming to the same sites using a not very clever format is what you and your colleagues are doing.

In the two sites you’ve linked out to in your last two posts, the authority of the first scores 0.2 and the second 1.6! Even Google knows they’re spam sites and is penalizing them and you’re trying to pretend you’re doing TEFL.net and its members a favour? Whoever is behind you needs one of my lessons in ‘black hat SEO’ techniques. :lol:

You’re wasting your time turning the subject onto me as I don’t bait easily. I admittedly self-promote my various writings and resume all over the Internet because that’s what it’s there for. I do not promote single issue scammy websites and the in-fighting going on at the bottom of the privatized TEFL ladder.

Think yourself fortunate that I’m not the site owner or a policeman (moderator), because half a dozen of you would have had your posts deleted and yourselves banned. Just like the last time, when this site blocks external links you’ll disappear again.

My advice to members is stay away from the type of spam links that have recently appeared.
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Re: The Chinese Teachers Foreign Union Spammers are Back!

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Look John, we are both veteran TEFL teachers and most of the time I agree with the things you have to say. Regretfully I do not agree with you all the time. Maybe we have different thresholds of trust for strangers. Maybe you have never been cheated by a recruiter or job agent or by whatever name you give them.

Me and six of my friends/colleagues have all been swindled over the last decade by them (me only once, but for a bundle of money). IOne of my buddies was taken for $12.000, and the others less.

Regardless of what you say or think, I believe in warning others so they don't step in the same shit as me. I don't see anything wrong with what I posted. Thank God this forum is a safe harbor for teachers and Joe doesn't let crooks advertise here.

In closing I leave this link which has zero to do with your CFTU and I live by this checklist any time I look for a new TEFL job which is not often. Others can use it they like, or they can roll the dice. It is THEIR choice not ours John. https://ruqqus.com/+TEFLReviews/post/78 ... r-job-scam. I stand by what I post and I wish you well in finding the teaching job you are looking for. Stay healthy.
Before sending off your resume or passport scan, be sure to check https://reddit.com/r/teflscams and to vaccinate yourself against foreign teacher job scams.
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John V55
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Re: The Chinese Teachers Foreign Union Spammers are Back!

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Cricket wrote: 01 Feb 2021, 15:24 Look John, we are both veteran TEFL teachers and most of the time I agree with the things you have to say. Regretfully I do not agree with you all the time. Maybe we have different thresholds of trust for strangers. Maybe you have never been cheated by a recruiter or job agent or by whatever name you give them.

Me and six of my friends/colleagues have all been swindled over the last decade by them (me only once, but for a bundle of money). IOne of my buddies was taken for $12.000, and the others less.

Regardless of what you say or think, I believe in warning others so they don't step in the same shit as me. I don't see anything wrong with what I posted. Thank God this forum is a safe harbor for teachers and Joe doesn't let crooks advertise here.

In closing I leave this link which has zero to do with your CFTU and I live by this checklist any time I look for a new TEFL job which is not often. Others can use it they like, or they can roll the dice. It is THEIR choice not ours John. https://ruqqus.com/+TEFLReviews/post/78 ... r-job-scam. I stand by what I post and I wish you well in finding the teaching job you are looking for. Stay healthy.
I wouldn’t call myself a veteran, but I’m not anonymous. No, I’ve never been scammed. That’s not to say I never will be so maybe it’s a matter of luck, a background in criminology, or maybe a lack of greed/gullibility. Personally, I like to think I can small BS when I see it!

Your link goes to an open letter site with zero comments. The picture link within it promotes China Scam Patrol (another penalized Google spam site), with links to the CFTU and the usual others. No change there then and in the last week you've bombarded this forum with a barrage of spam links.

Many new teachers use this site for information and they’re being led onto scam sites. Now, unless you’re one of those site owners, or you’re being paid to do it, why do it? Don’t go all innocent on me, you and the rest of your crowd know exactly what you’re doing and you should be ashamed of yourselves. If you were genuine with experience you’d advise others on how to avoid scams without the need to use the forum as a link farm for your single issue agenda.

I’ll say it again. To those looking for work in China stick to government schools and don’t get involved at the bottom end of TEFL scam ridden private sector.
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Re: The Chinese Teachers Foreign Union Spammers are Back!

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Government Teaching jobs in public schools and universities are indeed safe and scam-free BUT they are the lowest paying jobs in China. 90% of the scams are found in the private training centers and even the large chains like EF, Wall Street, Webb, and Disney. BUT... the large International schools from the U.K., Canada, Australia, and USA are held to a higher standard because they have to post a million dollar bond to protect anyone who claims to have been cheated, injured, etc. They are actually licensed, registered and always legit. Sure, teacher will get fired for tardiness, cursing, or too many absences, but you will not skimmed or scammed so long as you apply directly. Their pay packages will be the best in China and that is why there is always a waiting list to get in. And the other way to make good money, the best money is to be a private tutor like I ended up doing myself (although I recently took a morning job to fill in for a good friend of mine who had to go home for his father's funeral). Obviously when you work for yourself as a private in a rich neighborhood, you will make anywhere from 25,000 - 40,000 a month. Just print up 500 copies of your TEACHING resume with your photo on it and mobile number on it. Do not put your rate on the resume and put "First Lesson 1/2 price". Now go into a wealthy neighborhood and slip your resume under the door of every apartment. I did that and picked up 10 clients my first week, and from there it was all word of mouth. I now have 63 students and that includes 3 small groups of 3-5 students who are neighbors, and to them I give a 20% discount. If you stick with only public schools or universities, you will never earn more than 15,000 rmb a month. If you want to see the salary charts in detail go to https://ruqqus.com/+ChinaTEFL or https://reddit/r/ChinaTeachers.
Before sending off your resume or passport scan, be sure to check https://reddit.com/r/teflscams and to vaccinate yourself against foreign teacher job scams.
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John V55
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Re: The Chinese Teachers Foreign Union Spammers are Back!

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Fantasy, Cricket. :) You can’t just turn up and legally freelance in China and your ‘invitation letter’ and contract will be tied into a company, with a designated place of work. What you said might resonate with those from the west who have never been to China and think you just sort of turn up and do your own thing, but posting flyers under doors advertising illegal activities and hoping no one will notice in a surveillance police state would guarantee a speedy visit from the immigration department followed by deportation.

So Cricket, you have a large illegal customer base, are earning an average tax free ¥420K pa (£48K, $66K) with a TEFL certificate in a developing country and no one knows about it? If you really are in China you’ll know that’s nonsense. There are no official ‘salary charts’ for foreign teachers in China, only estimates. The link you gave is just another one to the link farm pages.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

For those others reading this, there is no pot of gold at the end of the TEFL rainbow. A monthly ¥10-12K, plus free healthcare, food allowance, free accommodation and utilities, annual cash sum for holidays … That’s already pushed your salary around the ¥18-20K mark and you’ve done that both legally and safely. In a school overseen by an education department and not a greedy CEO, that’s over twice as much as the professionally qualified native teachers in government schools you’ll be working with earn and a middle-class salary, not low pay. If you go down the spam ridden private sector route, you might squeeze the same ¥18-20K a month without the add-ons, but you’ll be worked into the ground and stand a good chance of being scammed.

The people recently arrived are not doing you any favours by trying to convince you there’s big money to be made by illegal TEFL in China and/or warning you of each other’s scam sites, because that’s what they are. Now that the forum has opened up external links they’re again using the forum to link out to their own respective spam sites. Here is a thread example viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8900and here viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8435. It’s so painfully obvious it’s embarrassing. Stay clear of these people and their spam/scams and if you do want to give China a try, do it legally and safely.

From several years ago, my experiences.
https://www.academia.edu/16438508/TEFL_ ... r_Mongolia
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Re: The Chinese Teachers Foreign Union Spammers are Back!

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What is wrong with you John? I agreed with you that the safest and most secure teaching jobs in China are with the public schools and and universities and you STILL want to argue, and for what, to have the last word on every topic on this board?. Why do you just do what is best for John and I will keep doing what is best for me, and let everyone else make up their own mind? People have a choice John . Stop trying to shove your point of view down everyone's throat!

I now do private tutoring but I take a regular morning job for the benefit of having a Z visa until I finish processing my own WOFE registration so I can sponsor myself ion China. Stop guessing and assuming John. It is no fantasy to earn 30,000 to 40,000 rmb a month in Beijing or Shanghai or ShenZhen, but not where you were teaching in 2nd and 3rd tier cities in Mongolia. You cannot compare apples with oranges. Many teachers who do corporate training make even more. Your views are outdated Jonh, and I tried to be respectful to you but I am not going to let you talk crap when you honestly have no similar private tutoring experience in a first tier city. If you are still in China give it a go, and then you can talk from experience. Young qualified teachers teaching TEFL today in China are making almost twice as what you earned in Mongolia. Admit it John, you CHOSE to teach at the lowest wage possible, a public school 800 miles from the capitol. Yes, it's a beautiful place to work, I have been to Wuhai, Hohut Chifeng, Erdos, and yes the grasslands are beautiful, but I don't want to hibernate six months out of the year in sub-zero winters and needed to make money to pay real bills and my student loan John. https://www.opnlttr.com/letter/pandemic ... world-wide I have no regrets in my choices, but again I believe in giving every teacher a choice of their own. I stand by every word I post.
Before sending off your resume or passport scan, be sure to check https://reddit.com/r/teflscams and to vaccinate yourself against foreign teacher job scams.
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Re: The Chinese Teachers Foreign Union Spammers are Back!

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There is nothing wrong with me anonymous Cricket. I know why a few of you have suddenly turned up and what you’re doing now that TEFL.net is allowing external links again. I don’t have to guess or assume. You know, Google knows and I know that you’re engaged in single-issue spam linking.

I look around the web and there are very few sites left that have independent forums. The former big two ‘Serious Teachers’ don’t even bother having one and ‘ajarn’ got rid of theirs years ago. This site isn’t doing itself any favours by allowing itself to become part of a link farm spam circle, which left to continue risks Google viewing it in the same way, but that’s not my problem.

A quote from a previous post. Fact not fantasy.

''This afternoon, I sat down and worked out my hourly rate. I work a minimum of hours and after tax it’s around 375 an hour, ($56.5, or 42 GBP). Subtract a monthly 300 Yuan tax ($45, or 34 GBP), but add onto that free (not shared and within the school) accommodation and all utilities, Internet, health care, 60% holiday pay, a 7000 Yuan annual holiday flight, 1000 Yuan monthly food allowance and make that hourly figure into what you think it’s worth.

There’s nothing special about me and I’m not anonymous either, with a bit of experience anyone can get that, but you won’t get it listening to anonymous posters that lure you into believing the sky’s the limit and point you in the direction they’ve been told to send you.''


I simply dislike spammers and scammers and where I see it happening I comment on it and tell others what they are and to stay away from them. You may now have the last say and don’t forget to put another spammy link in. :)
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Re: The Chinese Teachers Foreign Union Spammers are Back!

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Image

John, you seem fixated on salaries all the time and I do not understand what that has to do with the CFTU people, and once again, I am not connected with them, It is my wife who did volunteer work for them, from 2013 to 2016 and she still gets the newsletter. Here is a sample. https://www.docdroid.net/o5MrLc6/cftunewsletter128-pdf. Me personally, I don't even go to church in China because the Chinese government is always paranoid about groups of foreigners. I remember when I went to the English Corners at Minzu and Renmin Universities, there were always PSB agents taking videos of who was there and what they were talking about!

At any rate, WHERE and HOW teachers choose to work is THEIR CHOICE John. You gave them advice to work for Public schools and universities which WE BOTH AGREE is the safest and most stable place to work in China in ANY Province. But most people like my self are not going to travel 4,000 miles to anoth country to work for the low wages of Chinese public schools. We ALSO BOTH AGREE that the private training schools have the most problems with scams and teacher exploitation as follows:

* Unpaid overtime

* Fake tax deductions

* Salary Skimming

* Using teachers as marketing monkeys

* Racism

* Illegal Contracts

* Illegal visa and fake uni diplomas and phony TEFL certificates

If I recall correctly the China Scam Patrol identified 389 known scams and the people who run them and they are not all Chinese mind you. There are about 40 or 50 foreigners from the U.K., Russia, Canada, America, Ukraine, Serbia that are all targeting the most vulnerable targets - the NEWBIE, who unlike you and I are much easier to fool because of their inexperience. This is not only in China, but all over Asia in Korea and Japan as well. IT IS BY FAR THE WORST IN CHINA.

Not all the private schools are corrupt and shady, but the 20% that are crooked, are so horrible that all of the other 80% private schools even the chain schools like Wall Street English, Disney English, Webb, EF, New Oriental, Kaplan, and even Berlitz get tainted and painted with the same black brush. And in fact, it comes down to TEFL recruiters and job agents who first lure the TEFL newbie and conveniently forget to tell them the truth about Z visas and other MANDATORY LEGAL REQUIREMENTS See this official list of the Chines government: https://english.www.gov.cn/services/workinchina/

So, if newbies are smart enough to find their own jobs and KNOW THE TRUTH IN ADVANCE, they will not get screwed and they can shop around and find a legitimate white-listed employer that is both registered with SAFEA and has a SAIC business license which is a matter of public record, and more importantly ACCOUNTABILITY!

They have three tools to help them sort the crap schools from the good and honest ones;

1) There are information links on reddit and ruqqus posted by other teachers who collect and share tips: https://ruqqus.com/+ChinaTEFL or https://reddit.com/r/tefl_tips_traps_scams are two of many.


2) There are the "scam links" that you don't like because you personally chose the public schools and don't need to know about all the other scams: https://reddit.com/r/ChinaScamCentral or https://ruqqus.com/TEFLblacklist


3) There are the "Review" links like eslwatch.info that lets people who previously worked at schools give their own personal evaluation. https://reddit.com/r/teflreviews and eslwatch.info is another good one.

Some teacher job applicants are either too busy or just too lazy to spend an hour investigating their next employer and those people usually either get f*cked over in one or more frauds or they use a white or blacklist that are put out by three groups; China Teachers Alliance (60% Chinese teachers - 40% foreign teachers), the CFTU, or ChinaSmaWatch.org. I personally, in the past, just used this whitelist BECAUSE all the schools inside are registered with SAFEA and have a SAIC business license and if they screw teachers over they will not only get their license suspended for 30-90 days, they have to pay at least a 500,000,000 rmb fine to get it reinstated. https://www.scribd.com/document/3718193 ... n-Teachers

So yeah, if you do just a little bit of homework you can still work for a safe and stable TEFL employer and still earn at least 20,000 a month with housing in a first tier city IF YOU ARE QUALIFIED with a REAL and VERIFIABLE 4 YEAR DEGREE.

End of story. As I said before, and will always believe... Every teacher new, or old makes their own choices. Most of us teaching in China got abused in the beginning upon arrival until we learned the ropes or went to a CTA or CFTU or SAFEA seminar and learned that:

A) It is illegal for any agent or recruiter to collect more than one month's wages in China

B) Probationary periods cannot exceed more than one month for every year on your contract

C) You must be paid Overtime and holiday pay IF you are FULL-TIME employee

D) Your exact job description must be stated in your employment contracts

E) Your employment contract MUST be signed by the Principal or Vice-Principal of the school - not a third party agent

F) You have 22 Employee Rights that MUST be honored or your employer gets fined 50,000rmb for each reported violation


Now unless you go to a CTA, CFTU, or SAFEA seminar or subscribe to their newsletters NOBODY will ever tell you these things, especially the employers and and the recruiters. As for the actual China salaries, here is an international source that confirms what the CTA and CFTU tell people in their newsletters, meetings, and seminars. http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-su ... &jobtype=1 . If you want a break down by region, visit reddit.com/r/chinateachers. The recruiter and agents will never tell you these salaries because they want to low-ball you and take the balance of your real salary for themselves.

I now can only guess that John may be recruiting for some public schools in Inner Mongolia because he keeps pushing those public schools in all of his posts. There is nothing wrong with the public schools and you even get every weekend off. The only problem for me with public schools is they have the very lowest pay package in China. Less than 5% of all foreign teachers in China work in the public school system because of this reason. Teacher applicants should make their own choices and not be bullied or pushed in any direction by recruiters or agents or they will persuade you to take the position that makes THEM the most profit - not you.
Before sending off your resume or passport scan, be sure to check https://reddit.com/r/teflscams and to vaccinate yourself against foreign teacher job scams.
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