Teacher Discussion Forums

[mahmedou]

I would like to warn colleagues from a hoax slayer called Zina Language school virtually based in Dubai with whom I had a very bad experience that progressed as follows:
They send me an announcement for job opening as an ESL instructor with rather a high salary so I responded by sending my CV and the next thing I received was to go to a certain website to apply for my visa to the UAE but something drew my attention that is all their sites end in (.tk). I wrote back to them requesting an offer and they reply that I have to inform them when I will be reporting to Dubai for my job interview and/or placement. The e-mail was very confusing and I could smell some kind of phishing. I wrote back to them that I am not very comfortable with this kind of interaction and that I suspect they are a hoax slayer and asked them to stop sending me messages. The next thing I receive from them is an e-mail showing Kenyan Embassy's letter head (I think I have never seen one) that I am wanted by Kenyan embassies for ESL scams to hundreds of Kenyan citizens in the UAE and that I should report to the nearest Kenyan Embassy for investigation and that my partner was arrested and pointed out me as the mastermind of the scam operation. I have all the e-mail from them and my replies and I am willing to forward them to whoever is interested. I am warning other colleagues against these people and asking what shall I do to clear myself from these allegations.

[msHala]

I'm fairly a newbie when it comes to ESL teaching across the globe. Have to say, Thank you Mahmedou for posting as it helped confirm for me that they are infact a scam!! Had my first encounter with them this morning!

Last week, I naively applied to a teaching position knowing that I was applying with SEZ (Sharjah Educational Zone) which is a known education district in the UAE. However, the emails listed also ended in .tk which I sadly didn't realize until after the fact.

This morning, I got an offer letter and a terribly formatted contract. After viewing the contract, I realized they were a scam as no Emarati company flies anyone just for an interview!! I've dealt with reputable companies in the UAE and in being offered jobs there, know that these companies by law must be sticklers to background checks and multiple interviewing processes (video conferences, phone, etc.) before a final offer is ever made.

Being bilingual, I noticed that contract was "signed" with an entirely different name in Arabic then the name listed below it in English. These idiots sent me several emails asking if I received the offer email! Who does that?! Of course the school name was not an Arabic name at all! Just to be sure again, I tried to look them up and of course they were no where to be found on the UAE's Ministry of Education website nor online except under "beware they are a scam".

So if you get an offer from a MAGGIT LANGUAGE SCHOOL, it's a scam! If you get ANY emails ending in .tk stating it's from the UAE, it's a scam! UAE web domains end in .ae not .tk!

Does anyone know if there's a way to report them? Maybe to the UAE embassy or something?