Job Discussion Forums

[Daphne]

I need to warn y'all of another scam job in W. Africa.

If you look at an earlier post by another member regarding the "brightstar school" in Nigeria, you get the general idea of how this scam works.

The difference here is that some scammers are using the name of a real school (in this case the International Community School of Kumasi, Ghana) to hide their criminal intentions.

A teaching position with ICS was adverstised a couple of weeks ago on chronicle.com and later on transitionsabroad.com

After contacting the address [email protected] someone named Patrick replied to my emails asking for copies of documents and later the supposed director named Moses Nkwetah with the email addy of [email protected] sent me a questionnaire.

Moses gave me a few useless phone numbers in the UK, but mentioned that the school's site would not be up till September.

After completing the aforementioned form, I got this missive from Patrick:



Dear ****,

After the interview with the principal,he has finallyapproved your request to workwith us,congratulations!!!!You are already one ofus.Out of Sixty two people that applied for thisposition,you are among the few lucky people that arechosen.
With this new positive development,we shall send toyou a work contract to further authenticate andsolidify the acceptance.
Meanwhile,you have been advised to make a refundabledeposit of 500 US dollars to enable us commence necessaryarrangement for your arrival.This is indeed a commitment fee,though we may bespending much money for your arrival,the commitmentfee will enable us to know the level of seriousness inyou.We wouldnt like to commence the processing withoutgetting this deposit from you.It will give us morecourage to spend,our time,energy and money on
yourbehalf.
Most international schools in this city have spent much money in order to invite teachers,at lastsome of these teachers declined the offer,could you imagine,after spending money for them,they rejected the offer saying, they have gotten abetter paid job somewhere.That is why the schoolauthorities have unianimously agreed to collect thisdeposit,when the teacher arrives ,it will be givenback to him/her.

This payment has to be made immediately to MS JOSPHINE
AFFLO ENYONAM
(She is incharge of the school's finance)
International community school,Kumasi,Ghana through
WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER.As soon as the payment is
made,do not forget to equip us with the details of the
sent fund,eg transfer control number,test question and
answer etc.


Remember,we shall send you a work contract ,air ticket
and other necessary documents through DHL
courier services to your door after the processing.

Bearing in mind that nothing of value is commpletely free
(though your funds will be refunded upon arrival)
do not feel uncomfortable when we request little
funds for assisstance,remember that inviting a
teacher is never an easy task,it involves
patients,energy,time,understanding,trust and money.

Oncemore,you are advised to send the data of your
passport,(passport number)and the name of the
particular airport( your take off point),to enable us
purchase your air ticket without error.

As soon as our financial director
informs us that your payment has been confirmed,we
shall commence every arrangement to ensure that you
start work at the appropriate time.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Warm regards,

Patrick Teiko.

So noticing how much this looked like a 419 Nigerian scam I contacted the real ICS: www.ics-ghana.org and found out that these folks were crooks not associated with the real school in Kumasi.

I know that I should have contacted the addresses on the school site before even sending them my documents, but was naive enough to believe that chronicle.com screened its respective job posters.

Don't ever send money or original documents to any shady "employer."

[Warm Jet]

Hi Everyone,
Yes, this is another bogus job offerin Ghana, West Africa. They asked me to send $650. The acceptance letter is pasted below. This job was on the esljobs.com site. Fortunatley, I saw the other posting that was very similar. I would not have sent them the money but it is good to know that it is fraudulent.

Dear -----,


After the interview with the principal,he has finally approved your request to work with us,congratulations!!!!You are already one of us.Out of eighty two people that applied for this position,you are among the 6 lucky people that are chosen.


Meanwhile,you have been advised to make a refundable deposit of 650 US dollars to enable us commence necessary arrangement for your arrival.This is indeed a refundable commitment fee,though we may be spending much money for your arrival,the commitment fee will enable us to know the level of seriousness in you.We wouldnt like to commence the processing without getting this deposit from you.It will give us more courage to spend,our time,energy and money on your behalf.

Most international schools in this city have spent
much money in order to invite teachers,at last some of these teachers declined the offer,could you imagine,after spending money for them,they rejected the offer saying, they have gotten a better paid job somewhere.That is why the school authorities have unianimously agreed to collect this deposit,when the teacher arrives ,it will be given back to him/her.

This payment has to be made immediately ,
Kindly address the payment to JOSEPHINE AFFLO ENYONAM (she is incharge of the school's finance)
Credo International Language Center,N165/22 Dedeibaa street,Accra,Ghana
through WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER.

As soon as the payment is made,do not forget to equip us with the details of the sent fund, eg.MONEY TRANSFER CONTROL NUMBER and the complete name(s) and address of the sender.(Dont include test question and answer.)


Remember,we shall send you an air ticket,employment contract ,invitation letter and other necessary documents through DHL courier services to your door after the processing.

Bearing in mind that nothing of value is
commpletely free(though your funds will be refunded upon arrival)do not feel uncomfortable when we request fund for committment,remember that inviting a teacher is never an easy task,it involves patients,energy,time,understanding,trust and money.

Oncemore,you are advised to send the data of your passport,(passport number)and the name of the particular airport( your take off point),to enable us purchase your air ticket without error.

As soon as our financial director informs us that your payment has been confirmed,we shall commence every arrangement to ensure that you start work at the appropriate time.

Congratulaions Once more.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Warm regards,
Mrs Angela Nkwetah