Job Discussion Forums

[naturegirl321]

It's a fake.
Dear ,

Your application to Lecel International School Spain has been finally
accepted,congratulations!!

Attached to this email is the Employment contract,you are kindly
requested to study it carefully,if you agree to the terms and conditions of the contract,then print it out,fill in your name(s) at the appropriate
spaces provided,sign and return it to the processing department of the
school.DAVID ADAM our finance director will be incharge of processing your visa/work permit requirements(for NON EUs)Contact him through this email address immediately:[email protected]

Due to the competitive nature of international job offers,most
candidates reject jobs after signing the contract for different reasons
like,getting another paid job somewhere else ,fear of being refused visa by the Embassy etc.

Based on the aforesaid,the school authorities held a meeting on the 18th of March 2006 and concluded after the meeting that :

1.The school will process teachers travelling/ working documents (for
those that require visa) and send the processed documents to the
individual through DHL courier service.The reason for this decision is to
ensure that all accepted candidates must obtain visa.

2.The Candidate must send half of the accomodation fee as a guarantee
that he/she must arrive to start work on the agreed date.Please note that the fee is refundable upon arrival.Both EU passport holders and non EUs should send half of the accomodation fee.

The total amount for one year accomodation provided for each of the accepted teachers is 1800 Euro,therefore,every accepted applicant must send 900 euro for us to reserve his or her own accomodation,as soon as the teacher arrives,the money must be given back to him/her.

It is important to note that we have really spent much money to secure
and furnish the new teachers accomodation,therefore if you are truely
interested,dont hesitate to send half of the accomodation fee.As soon as we
receive the refundable fee,we will send you a receipt as an evidence that
you have completed all the requirements for the position,a copy of the
receipt will also be included in the package to be sent to you through DHL courier service.

Therefore,you are kindly requested to send the sum of 900 euro
immediately, in order to guarantee your accomodation .Remember that this
money cannot be deducted from your first salary,it must be sent before we
could proceed with other necessary arrangements for your
arrival,oncemore,the money will be reimbursed to you within 7 days of
arrival.

Payment details:

Address the payment to:

Receiver: DAVID ADAM

Lecel Intl school
C/ Vaquer�as, 19,
Madrid, 17004, Spain




You are advised to send the money through WESTERN UNION MONEY
TRANSFER,it is the most reliable,fastest,convenient and secured method of receiving money in this part of the world.As soon as the money is
transfered,dont forget to attach the payment slip/receipt that was issued
to you at the western union office after the transation and send it to this
email: [email protected], the receipt is very important for your record.

In summary,sign the contract and return it to DAVID ADAM together with half of the accomodation refundable fee payment receipt to the email above.

Kindly note that the commencement date has been shifted to the 30th of October to enable us process travelling and working documents for the Non EU's.


Hope to hear from you immediately.

Congratulations again! ! !


Best Regards,

Jenny

[Renata]

try looking for "Santos Itnl School" on this forum or on the net - this is the same fake school, they had another name too, I can't remember now what. They don't event bother to change the way they write their e-mails....what a scam

[naturegirl321]

Here are some more emails I've received

[Moore]

Naturegirl: maybe you should post a thread on the General Discussion forum to warn other people about this school so nobody else get hit on by these sharks. Really sorry to hear it was a scam.

[john_n_carolina]

....also, for them to choose a non-EU teacher over the other 2000 EU teachers (London, etc) is even more indicative. except that you have your Masters.

from what i know, the only schools from Europe that do visas are the ones that go to the "job fairs" in Washington DC etc. for example, in Ecuador, there are about 6 or 7 that come to the US every year.

[jonniboy]

Yes it all sounded too suspect. It's extremely rare for any Spanish school to give free accommo, though many will offer assistance with finding it.

Anyone who *pays* an employer to work for them needs their head examined anyway. But this is quite despicable. I wonder how many people pin their hopes on getting work with these rogues only to have the rug pulled out from under their feet when it's too late to get another decent job?

[john_n_carolina]

...yes, good point. and also, not only the rug pulled out from under them, but they now have copies of your passport, transcripts, college degree, certification, TEFL cert, etc...!! in a couple weeks they'll have these printed up with different names, photos, etc...

[jonniboy]

Actually usually in such cases they're not interested in getting fake documentation - just your hard earned cash. I just found the ad and all of it is at odds with normal practice in Spain. The only time I've ever seen Spanish schools offer accommodation is a for a few days at the start to allow you to settle in and that's very rare. They never offer private flats.

The hours of work, well, as they specify teaching kids, they're at school all day and generally would attend a language centre either after 5pm or for an hour in their lunch break. So 2000 euro for 5-10 hours a week seems exceptionally good! Working in Spain invariably means working evenings. Health care is never provided as legal workers are entitled to treatment in the Spanish health service. Finally as others have said, why would they go to all the hassle of offering visas to any Tom, Dick or Harry with all the time and expense when they have perfectly qualified native speakers with EU passports on their doorsteps?

It would also be a good idea if one of the recipients of their cash demands forwarded the mail with full e-mail headers to [email protected] stating that it is fraud/a 419 scam. That would at least get the e-mail account closed down.

[john_n_carolina]

....how about someone from the Spanish govt / police actually going all the way, and sending them the money?? or some other type of sting?

[myoung]

I guess I'm a little late to the party on this one, but I was also accepted to teach at Lecel, found it fishy and did some research. A friend of mine in Madrid tried to find the 'school' at the address they provided and the numbers on their street (C/ Vaquerias) didn't go past 10 (they say they're at 19). Also, the Spanish consulate in San Fransisco could not find any school under that name registered with the Ministry of Education (despite the fact that the contract said otherwise).

I'm glad nobody reading this board got scammed by these (insert explicative).

[Bronyaur]

Me and my Girlfriend have also been 'accepted', obviously didnt go through it for the same reasons as you guys. I am a bit worried about our documents being stolen though. I intend to contact the authorities about it in the coming days, if david adams or whatever his name is can recieve money from western union then he should be able to recieve a call/visit from the police. It would be good if some other people contacted their consuls etc aswell

[DIPTESOL]

I also was accepted for the position with that 'school.'
I kind of thought there was something fishy when I saw the salary was 2000 euros plus free accommodation. They also sent me the email asking for deposit on the flat. I wrote back saying that I'm not that naive and I would never part with money without even seeing the property first!
They've since not written back!
Definitely a fake school.