Job Discussion Forums

[drgonzo]

Hey all,
I just recently got in touch with a recruitment agency called ESL Asia.
They offered me an unbelieveble contract in Bali... supposedly 18million a month minus taxes. I also had never heard of the school (Bali English Centre), nor could I find any reference to such a school on the internet.
The agency sent me a contract, which seemed in order, but I asked for the contact info of the DOS so that I could ask pertinant questions, such as class size, working hours, net pay, location, etc., etc..
This agency responded by saying that the school does not wish to be bothered, and the agency would ask such questions. If I was not happy with the info received, I could forgo the agency and seek out a job on my own. And finally that I should send ORIGINAL copies of my degree, TESOL certificate, etc., etc..
I sent back an email asking the questions I wanted answered and I have not heard a thing. I will also never send my original documents. They are not needed. I have got a work visa before not using my original documents, photocopies are acceptable.

Now, that is what happened, now for the speculation. I have never heard of a company asking for originals, and nor have I heard of such well paying jobs in Bali! They would be snapped up in a minute. I am under the opinion that this company is collecting people's original documents, and perhaps reselling or copying them to produce fake degrees and teaching certificates.

Newbies beware.

Has anyone else run into similar circumstances? Has anyone heard of the aformentioned school in Bali?

Thanks

[inmexico]

Thanks for the heads up. I hope there aren't any newbies or anyone else for that matter getting stung by such an obvious scam.
Some obvious points for people to remember:

NEVER send original documents to anyone
NEVER send money in advance for visas etc.
If it sounds too good to be true.....you know

There are times when originals will be requested, but that is usually by an immigration office or the like when they are processing a work permit. In Mexico for example, the immigration office often, if not always, wants to see original documents.

[Winmar]

Bloody hell, very dodgy.

If anyone wants originals, they can get them from you in person, then give them straight back. Posting originals would be ludicrous.

[Chester]

I had a similar experience.
Job offer was at a National Plus School in Batam. ESL Asia quoted a salary of 800,000 rp per month (way too low as Nat PLus pay 14 to 18 mill). so i sent them an eamil to get the correct figure. also this was in february and i knew that all the schools did their recruiting in december - jan. so i phoned the School directly and the D.O.S. told me it was b***s***.
ESL asia also wanted a fee and my original documents - TESOL and Bachelors.

I sent them an email stating that this was out of the question. I also queried their motives and suggested they were operating a scam to get easy money and to copy documents for pirating (ESL Asia operate from Bangkok).

They sent me an abusive email saying i was unethical for contacting the school directly and that i was not to be trusted.

I replied that i have no problem with paying an agency to get me a job in beautiful Batam working for a National Plus School and getting 14 mill a month. I do object to people asking me for my original documents.

Its almost mposible to get a job with a national plus school if you dont have a teaching diploma anyway.

ESL Asia have banished me from their data base! wooo hooo

[gugelhupf]

In a previous existance long ago I used to work in the fraud department of a large credit/charge card operation (mentioning no names but "That'll do nicely!") where I would encounter identity theft regularly. Most of what I saw was aimed solely at extracting credit and defrauding money, but identity and document theft is used for a variety of other purposes. Obtaining a passport under an assumed identity (usually from overstretched consular officials in some far flung outpost) is a profitable business, and I'm guessing that forgery of degree certificates would be a moneyspinner too.

In this day and age it is not inconceivable (but unlikely, thankfully) that some lunatic fringe organisation might use tempting job adverts to obtain local addresses of expats of a particular nationality resident in a country such as Indonesia.

The main problem with any form of identity theft is that it never really ends. The real Mr X will have his identity open to question forever more, and will have trouble obtaining credit or passports for years afterwards. All can go quiet for years then suddenly bailiffs arrive on the real Mr X's doorstep to recover huge sums of money that the fake Mr X has extorted, then it's back to square one.

It is important not to get paranoid, and I'd have no problem sending copies of documents to a reputable employer who wanted to hire me. However, I don't disclose things like passport numbers, mother's maiden name, national insurance numbers etc. to anyone without a very good reason.

I suspect that outfits like this ESL Asia are just small time crooks selling a few forged and stolen documents, but I get a sense that this kind of fraud is likely to increase and to develop in its sophistication throughout SE Asia.

[Chester]

I think mainly want money for nothing. They told me the fee was actually charged by the school, not by them. yea, right! the fee was quite small, but if enough people pay up they certainly would make money

[Chester]

see the Thailand forum.
Lots of ESL Asia stuff - all bad.
what a bunch of a**-holz

[Sweetlady]

It seems that I have also been scammed. I applied for a job with ESL Asia and received a contract for Bali English Centre. I asked for the address, telephone number and/or E-mail address of the school, not just once, but many times. They E-mailed me and asked me to stop harrassing them or they would cancel my contract.

The latest E-mail is asking for US$178.00 as they have changed their policy and are now asking for a portion of their fee up front. I obviously will not be sending them this money.

I have contacted the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok asking for their assistance in checking up on this "recruiter". If it turns out to be a scam, which I am sure it is, I plan to follow up with INTERPOL to see if there is anything they can do.

It may be too late to save myself, but maybe I can save other teachers from this company.

[napoleon8]

My bad experience with ESL Asia is documented at:

http://www.geocities.com/oldhippy8/esl.html