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coledavis
Joined: 21 Jun 2003
Posts: 1838
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 Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 2:08 pm Post subject: Ombroso International School |
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| I responded to an advertisement for quite well paid work at Ombroso International School, which is apparently near Lyon. Having been through a lengthy procedure, including a long written questionnaire, I was finally offered a job without an oral interview. A contract was sent to me, but one which required me to pay several hundred Euros for advance accommodation (which would apparently be repaid to me when I got there). Scam, I think. There are plenty of other employers out there, and I've never known any to ask for upfront payments (leaving aside the occasional need to pay for one's own airfare and home-side visa expenses). |
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jill444
Joined: 31 Aug 2009
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 5:00 pm Post subject: Same here |
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| Hi Cole, I posted earlier the same thing and hadn't seen your comments. I posted my offer letter. I think they are connecting themselves to a legit school and pretneding to be interveiwing for them...it's scam. I will call the school Monday (I'm in Europe) and let them know. Been there! XX Jill |
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coledavis
Joined: 21 Jun 2003
Posts: 1838
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| Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:42 am Post subject: |
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| Yes, good idea, Jill. Cole |
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bre_anna
Joined: 25 Nov 2009
Posts: 23
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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| I ran into the same scam. And I think jill is right, it looks like their attaching themselves to a legit school. One red flag I saw was that the name of the school in the email address was spelled differently then what they had posted in the job add. Also that they asked for money through Western Union. |
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mr tree
Joined: 09 Oct 2007
Posts: 98
Location: Prague, CzR
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| Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:33 am Post subject: |
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we received this email from one of our former trainees (it's basically the same as you desribed):
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I'm writing to report a TEFL scam that I fell for and almost lost a lot of money to. I went through an elaborate 'interview process' for a teaching job in Lyon, France. The school is Ombrosa Bilingual School. The school is real and legitimate, but the job vacancy and the application process are fabrications designed by a criminal third party. Applicants send their cover letter and resumes to an email address provided with the advertisement (I found it on Jobmonkey, but it could be anywhere), then send supporting documents, then complete a written interview. A contract is then offered under the seal of Ombrosa. All communications are handled by an impersonator of Dr. Luc Vezin, the real director of the school. The impersonator responds to all emails in a style immitative of the title (he or she even entered into contract negotiations with me). Towards the end of the contract, there is a request for a housing deposit of 750 EUR, and a further payment for visa processing. Therein lies the scam.
A full exposure can be read at:
http://tesljobs.com/viewmessage.php?id_mb=368
This is an elaborate and detailed scam, to which many experienced TEFL teachers have either fallen prey, or come close. I only discovered it becasue my father has a sixth sense for con artists, and smelled something. I looked into it further, and found the above website. I hope that you will make this information explicit to teachers at your school and future trainees. |
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