Beware of "Bait Ads" and "TEFL Ghosts" just waiting to cheat and scam teachers

Discussion about jobs in Asia inc. Middle East

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Vagabond
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Beware of "Bait Ads" and "TEFL Ghosts" just waiting to cheat and scam teachers

Unread post by Vagabond »

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I subscribe to nine different TEFL and ESL forums and five of them posted warnings about the same "ghost" recruiters, I assume they are doing some real damage to TEFL teachers. Read and judge for yourself. https://www.eslbase.com/forum/viewtopic ... ams-china/ I suggest that you get all 15 of the new and old names being used to advertise. I also suggest that BEFORE you respond to a job advertisement you check the name of the company advertising on duckduckgo.com with the words of scam or fraud before responding. If nothing comes up they may be using fictitious (non existent company names to run what are called "bait ads" that offer great jobs and falsely claim you do not need a degree or teaching experience. If you cannot find a website or land-line telephone linked to the ad avoid them because 99.9% they are a scam artist or identity theft - EVEN IF you see the same or similar ads posted on a TEFL forum. Many TEFL forums will take advertising dollars from anyone. "TEFL Ghosts" that lure you with "bait ads" will bring you nothing but trouble. There are a whole bunch of them listed at https://reddit.com/r/TEFLscams but they are always coming up with new names. TBH, you should avoid anyone who only exists in cyber space and cannot provide a verifiable business license, land-line telephone number, an office street address, and a website. Ghost have a tendency to disappear - either with your money, or your identity.
Before taking any teaching job in China make a quick visit over to https://reddit.com/r/ChinaScamCentral and https://reddit.com/r/TEFLreviews so your dream job does not become a nightmare.
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Atlas
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Re: Beware of "Bait Ads" and "TEFL Ghosts" just waiting to cheat and scam teachers

Unread post by Atlas »

This post was long overdue, but frankly I think this name game will never end. Newbies really need to be on their toes imo.
Look Before You Leap at https://reddit.com/r/teflscams
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Cricket
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Re: Beware of "Bait Ads" and "TEFL Ghosts" just waiting to cheat and scam teachers

Unread post by Cricket »

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As far back as I can remember 80% of the TEFL job ads online have been bogus. All the information was fabricated and designed for only one purpose - to get some gullible wannabe sucker to send in their resume - period. This is what a typical "bait ad" looks like and there are literally dozens of them on ESLCafe, Beijinger, EChinacities and dozens of TEFL Ghost websites:

International school in Shanghai has an immediate need for a native-English speaker to teach junior high students Monday-Friday 2 classes per day Basic and Intermediate English. Salary is 20,000 rmb with two months paid vacation and holidays and full medical benefits. NO WEEKEND WORK Free furnished apartment and air fare reimbursement. Starting date: Next week. Send your resume and photo with passport scan to JudyHR2@sina.com (not a real person)

Nowhere in the ad does it give the name of the school or even the name of the recruiting agency. Yet at least 200 resumes will be rushed off to this email with all the requested information. Within six months at least 100 of these people will become victims of identity theft, and the rest will be spammed to death with job offers offering 10,000-15,000 rmb per month working 6 days per week including weekends - 10 hours per day, with no housing. The calls and emails will not stop, even after you found a job on your own. This is the reality of "blind bait ads". No matter where you see ads like this, avoid them all. If you think you are smart enough to out wit these professional fraudsters read up here: https://chinascamwatch.wordpress.com

if you ever find yourself trapped in one of these crap jobs, don't panic and do not express your anger. Do NOT EVER let anyone hold your passport. Instead search out a local pub and start networking with other teachers and search for those who are happy and love their jobs. chances are they are not being exploited, cheated, or lied to, and probably have a decent paycheck too. Get the name of the principal and send your resume and photo to them and offer to give a demo class. Eventually they will make you an offer and you must fight yourself to reject it and counter with an offer that is at least 20% higher.

Once you have the new job offer you accept it only the condition that they sponsor you for a work visa so you have no legal problems. If they agree, now you tell the original shysters AFTER YOU COLLECT YOUR PAY-CHECK that you have an emergency back home in your homeland and you have to be gone for at least a month. No matter what they say, just leave, and never make the same mistake again.
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: Beware of "Bait Ads" and "TEFL Ghosts" just waiting to cheat and scam teachers

Unread post by John V55 »

Seriously, the more you write the more it becomes obvious you haven’t got a clue what you’re doing. Good God, no wonder you lot got scammed, they can see you coming a mile off.

You’re right in one respect and although it’s an opinion I’ll agree 80% of jobs online are bogus or misleading in some way. Who are they aimed at? You lot at the bottom end of TEFL. Without you lot they wouldn’t exist.

A recruiter is the middle man between the applicant and employer. They supply the employer with an employee for a commission. Why on earth would they put out the full location or phone numbers of the employer so people could apply directly, or another recruiter could grab it for themselves? The fictitious ad you’ve given already has the location, the type of work, the salary and if you like it and apply, you find out more details as you go along. When you know who the recruiter is, it’s then you start to do your research. That’s how it’s done and always has been.

You can of course network, but most schools use recruiters because they haven’t the time or knowledge to go through the mountain of paperwork needed to employ someone directly, whereas recruiters do and also often have contacts within the system.

You will already have a visa allowing you to reside in China, this will also contain the words, ‘Purpose of Residence’, which obviously is work. If you approach an employer directly seeking work the first thing they will ask you for is your letter of release from your previous contract. Obviously you haven’t got one as you’ve done a runner and so he wouldn’t be able to employ you. If of course you’re working illegally on a tourist visa and ducking and diving then it’s possible, but leave yourself wide open to scams and you really have nothing to complain about.
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Cricket
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Re: Beware of "Bait Ads" and "TEFL Ghosts" just waiting to cheat and scam teachers

Unread post by Cricket »

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Much of what John says is true, but many recruiters somehow persuade the foreign TEFL teacher job applicants to disregard what they read and not to worry because "we have government connections" or "we are partnership with the Ministry of Education", or some similar bogus bullshit. Yet when the shit hits the fan and they get arrested, those recruiters will simply block and delete their telephone numbers and files. and won't even call their clients a lawyer! After all, they made all the money they could off them and since they will now be jailed and deported, and won't be back for at least 5 years (Those deported get a 5 year reentry ban), and they have new fish to fry. The below video is self explanatory. https://www.reddit.com/r/TEFL_TIPS_TRAP ... _deported/

Remember to go by what the local law says on the internet and ignore all the job agents and recruiters who will may try to tell you "The law has been changed" or "That only applies to interns", or "That law goes into effect next year" or some equally believable lie. I personally recommend that everyone gets their own teaching jobs directly and eliminate, or at least minimize your risks of misrepresentation, skimmers, scammers, and identity thieves. Here's a list of over 3,000+ employers with contact info, who hire directly and they will pay you the 40% usually paid to the middlemen. https://www.reddit.com/r/CFTU/comments/ ... t_hire_ap/
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: Beware of "Bait Ads" and "TEFL Ghosts" just waiting to cheat and scam teachers

Unread post by John V55 »

How on earth do you somehow persuade someone to work illegally? They knew, the recruiter knew and the director running the business knew. All were involved.

I rarely click on these spam links, but I clicked on your bottom link. Imagine my surprise when it took me to a reddit page by the China Foreign Teachers Union and from there another link took me to a spammy looking esl list with pages of worldwide private school websites and recruiters (Saxoncourt), put there by anonymous posters with 99% having zero reviews. In the comments section, one of the two comments is by CFTU (surprise, surprise), with a link to another anonymous ruqqus page giving a list of the highest paying schools in China. Unfortunately, they’re top end International Schools and wouldn’t hire unless you’re a qualified teacher … For heaven’s sake, unless you're scam proof don’t get lured into these spam links.The whole thing made me shudder at the amount of scamming that will be going on here.

If you have a genuine degree, TEFL certificate and some experience, the only way to stay safe is working for state schools overseen by education authorities and why the scam recruiters don’t target this sector.
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Cricket
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Re: Beware of "Bait Ads" and "TEFL Ghosts" just waiting to cheat and scam teachers

Unread post by Cricket »

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The subscribers of http://reddit.com/r/teflreviews and https://ruqqus.com/+expats are now in the process of searching out all the "TEFL Ghosts" online through some 900 Tefl Job ads that are currently posted for 37 countries. It will be interesting to see what they find and post in a few days. I will predict at least 50 such non-existent companies/schools, and that's only because of the COVID situation. If we had no COVID to deal with, I would say maybe 200.

As for John and his obsession with the CFTU, I sent an email to them asking them if they ever posted anything on tefl.net and if not to come here to meet JohnV. I have searched the "Teach in Asia" section and cannot find anything posted by the CFTU. I see where they have posted at five other large TEFL forums, but not here. By the way, the CFTU is by no means the expert on all things TEFL. That is John's job. But when it comes to China they seem to be dialed in quite well.

But for now, let's just focus on all the TEFL Ghosts and see how many are actively luring new victims online.Once those other guys build at list as reddit and ruqqus, I will give those lists to some scam-baiters to have fun with.
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: Beware of "Bait Ads" and "TEFL Ghosts" just waiting to cheat and scam teachers

Unread post by John V55 »

I don’t want to appear thick, but down in the dumps of the TEFL business industry, what’s a ‘TEFL Ghost?’
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Vagabond
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Re: Beware of "Bait Ads" and "TEFL Ghosts" just waiting to cheat and scam teachers

Unread post by Vagabond »

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A TEFL ghost is a recruiter or an agency that has zero accountability because they have no office address, no business license, no tax ID number, no SAFEA registration (in China), no verifiable clients, and sometimes not even a website. Or if they have one, it is registered to an anonymous proxy. They usually operate using various names and advertise with hundreds of "Blind Bait Ads" almost always on the these web sites below and never on Glassdoor. The more established ghosts (those not yet exposed) will brazenly use Google AdWords and some of them even claim to be "partners" with the Ministry of Education or some famous Ivy League University. If you simply search "TEFL Teacher jobs in China" (or any country for that matter, you will get over 3,000 hits and more than half will be posted by "Ghosts" and a good portion of those ads will be identity thieves posing as Schools or headhunters or TEFL recruiters. Real legitimate recruiters will have a verifiable business license, an office, not be afraid to send you a scan of their passport confirming who they are. After all they ask us to send them a scan of OUR passports. This is where most all ghosts will advertise: https://media.makeameme.org/created/cafd6daa3f.jpg
Before taking any teaching job in China make a quick visit over to https://reddit.com/r/ChinaScamCentral and https://reddit.com/r/TEFLreviews so your dream job does not become a nightmare.
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John V55
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Re: Beware of "Bait Ads" and "TEFL Ghosts" just waiting to cheat and scam teachers

Unread post by John V55 »

Oh right, thank you, now I know. Didn’t use them myself as I worked under a local education authority. They don’t even have a website? You mean like the China Foreign Teachers Union that use other people's websites? (Had to get that one in :) ). Yes, best to stay away from them and work safely not at the bottom end of TEFL.
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Blue Moon
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Re: Beware of "Bait Ads" and "TEFL Ghosts" just waiting to cheat and scam teachers

Unread post by Blue Moon »

There is Reditt sub that is dedicated to "Ghost Scams" and from what I read, there are almost 50,000 of them in every profession. I will see if I can find it and come back with a link. One thing I know for sure is that all the Chinese job brokers and recruiters never give you their real names, only Chinglish names so they can never be found or even identified by the police when they cheat someone.Chinese are many things, but stupid is not one of them.
Watch your step in China. There is a pile of shit waiting for your foot around every corner that only laowai seem to step in. See https://reddit.com/r/workabroadfraud.
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