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Avoiding Scams!!!

 
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spiral78



Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash

PostPosted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 8:44 am    Post subject: Avoiding Scams!!! Reply with quote

This comes up periodically; there are a number of scam operators targeting non-EU member citizens who hope and dream of a legal way in to Western Europe as and EFL teacher.

I hope this thread might be a place to gather info on current and past scams, where it will be easy for people to see what to beware of.

Please contribute both advice on red flags and information about actual scams!
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PC Parrot



Joined: 11 Dec 2009
Posts: 459
Location: Moral Police Station

PostPosted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 9:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tip No 1

Anything that looks like a liveable wage for a university educated twenty-something is a scam.

Tip No 2

Anything that looks more like an insult than an offer of employment is real.
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ralph0632003



Joined: 27 Jan 2014
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 9:51 am    Post subject: Catania English Study Centre Job offer scam Reply with quote

Hello guys, I had been a victim of this scam, this is why im posting it for you not to become the next victim. This was a job offer in Catania offered by a certain David O Hara [email protected],skype :englishstudycentres, offering 2400 eu, free airfare upon arrival, recommending an immigration lawyer Moses Eliyah [email protected],skype:portaledellimmigrazione, and a certain Airline alitalia agent Mark Giorgio. [email protected] skype:air.italys. These criminals will demand for a visa fee 190 euros,legalization fee 205 eu, dhl 120 eu, embassy fee 160 eu,italian bank deposit 5000 eu, apartment security deposit 430 eu, airfare thru mark giorgio 751 euros return(it would look like a good deal for the fake ticket). When you see posts like this, this is a scam. The sad thing is, no one can help because of such bureaucracy going on. You will be referred to one agency to another then another. Its just so tiring shooting emails to almost all of the agencies in europe. No replies from the INTERPOL. So just be careful folks. I learned my lessons well.....I emailed the real english study centre employer in catania [email protected] and they told me that their website was hacked and that they were sorry for what happened, the case had already been submitted to the prosecutor and that these people had already been identified, they wanted a copy of the email content i sent to the INTERPOL, so I gave them what they need but until now no reply from them and these criminals are still in contact with me because they wanted the 5000 euros italian bank statement of account. If only I am in italy, I can catch them myself. it is very easy to set an entrapment operation to these criminals. My impression is, the police in Europe are not just as smart as the police in other countries...thanks spiral78 for reminding me to post this here.
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spiral78



Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash

PostPosted: Wed Jan 29, 2014 1:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

While I think the post is very valuable, must disagree a bit with this:

Quote:
My impression is, the police in Europe are not just as smart as the police in other countries...


It's an entirely different kettle of fish to co-ordinate across countries than it is to work, for example, inside the United States. Case in point: crime between Mexico and the U.S. is also much more difficult to actually solve/eliminate. International crime is by definition much more difficult to deal with on every level.

Further, a scam such as this isn't probably attracting the highest level of attention from the authorities; it wouldn't in North America either, frankly.

Though I can understand how frustrating it must be!
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PC Parrot



Joined: 11 Dec 2009
Posts: 459
Location: Moral Police Station

PostPosted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 7:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
My impression is, the police in Europe are not just as smart as the police in other countries...


It's not the police who are falling for these scams.
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spiral78



Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash

PostPosted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 7:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
It's not the police who are falling for these scams.


Heheheheheh. Very perceptive.
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Sashadroogie



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise

PostPosted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 3:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can't beat the classics!
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BocaNY



Joined: 24 Mar 2009
Posts: 131

PostPosted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 1:20 am    Post subject: Another Italy scam :( Reply with quote

I got an email from a school in Bari Italy that matches the phone number and wording exactly from other scams. There is also a second phone number (+39) 0694805851. It's from Lord Byron College. I googled the school and though they use the actually director's name the phone numbers and email address don't match. Interesting though that they did put the actually phone number of the school but said it was the fax number. Guess it should be a give away that it is a scam when at the end of email the signature doesn't include the website of the school. It also went to my junk mail folder.

Quote:
Serious/enthusiastic EU , NON EU Teachers urgently.

Location: Bari, Puglia, Italy
Deadline: Saturday 15. March 2014
Experience: 1 year and extendable
Positions: 3

Details:
One of Italy's largest private language schools, with forty years' experience, full member of the European Association of Quality Language Services (EAQUALS), authorized test centre for Cambridge UCLES, IELTS , TOEFL, TOEIC and ECDL, authorized training centre for UCLES DELTA teaching qualification, seeks qualified, experienced EFL teachers with degree and TEFL certification for the period of a year with possibility of extension and/or renewal. Good working conditions, full support, possibility to become Cambridge Oral examiner. Opportunity for career advancement with in-house training and possibility to take part in FREE IN-HOUSE DELTA COURSE.

Qualifications:
Career minded EFL teachers with degree and TEFL qualification as well as at least one year's teaching experience ( Note that experience and degrees are not compulsory if you are ready to work and learn). Please note that, due to Italian employment regulations, we can now also consider US, Canadian, Australian and South African nationals, etc.

Courses offered:

Lord Byron College offers courses of English, French, German, Spanish and Italian on all levels and for all ages from very young children to advanced programmes, both General Fluency from A1 to C2 Council of Europe levels and technical/academic language programmes. Courses last from 20 to 60 hours and include both individual lessons and group courses.

Compensation:
Dynamic and supportive teaching environment, good working conditions, in-house training and teacher development, free Italian language courses for our teachers, FREE IN-HOUSE DELTA COURSE AND TEACHER TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT. Starting salary from 2,300-2,400 euro net per month. contracts with national insurance and pension coverage. Ten days paid national holidays during contracted period.

Teachers should be willing to share teaching ideas, assist in the preparation of new teaching materials and attend training/development days in school and local or national teacher conferences/training days (all expenses paid).
Severance pay: 2,000 euro
Additional teaching hours taught are paid as overtime.
Paid holidays over Christmas, Easter and any local or national holidays which fall within the contractual period.
100% medical insurance
Accommodation details: paid independent accommodation.
Traveling expenses reimbursed upon arrival.


Please forward your CV, passport, degrees/certificates and recent photograph to proceed:




Lord Byron College


Mr John Credico, Course Director
Via Sparano 102
Bari, Apulia
70121 - Italy.
Tel: (+39) 0694801641, (+39) 0694805851
Fax: 080 523 2686
Skype: lordbyroncolleges



I wanted to add that I remember the job ad I applied to. It was up on Friday and then taken down by Monday. It was claiming that it was for the Modern English school in Rome. Their email was also a gmail account with the schools name though spelled wrong modem.schools@ gmail.com. The email from the above response were contact@lo​rdbyroncoll​ege.com ([email protected]).
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jonniboy



Joined: 18 Jun 2006
Posts: 751
Location: Panama City, Panama

PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 12:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Red flags? Well, the majority of these scams use the names of real language centres based in Spain or Italy, so anything that deviates from the going rates in terms of pay and conditions there is almost certainly a scam.

I would say that standard for Spain or Italy these days is:

Monthly salary 1000-1500 net (above that is virtually unheard of and would likely involve ridiculously long working hours)

No accommodation provided (in the rare cases that it is, it will be shared with another teacher and will be deducted from the salary above.)

No flight provided (there are enough bodies on the ground that it isn't necessary.)

Public holidays may or may not be paid, if they are, then a monthly salary of 1300 is the absolute max you'll get.

Usually no severance pay. (Despite laws in Spain mandating this, a lot of schools fudge on it)

Contracts of 9 months only (Europeans by and large don't want to study in summer)

Working hours in the evenings from 5-9, often split shifts of mornings and lunchtimes will be involved. I'd be very suspicious of any school which offers 9-5 working hours.

Promises to secure work visas for non-EU nationals. Probably the biggest red flag, since it's expensive and unnecessary, given the amount of Brits and Irish in Spain and Italy.

Most of all, willingness to recruit from abroad is in itself a red flag for me, again given how many native speakers are already in the country. It usually means that it's either a scam or that the school has such a dodgy local reputation (low pay, poor working conditions, a psycho owner etc) that teachers in the town in question avoid it like the plague.

The scam offers I've seen usually deviate from those in several ways.
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Prof.Gringo



Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!

PostPosted: Wed Nov 12, 2014 5:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ralph0632003 wrote:
These criminals will demand for a visa fee 190 euros,legalization fee 205 eu, dhl 120 eu, embassy fee 160 eu,italian bank deposit 5000 eu, apartment security deposit 430 eu, airfare thru mark giorgio 751 euros return(it would look like a good deal for the fake ticket). When you see posts like this, this is a scam... and these criminals are still in contact with me because they wanted the 5000 euros italian bank statement of account.


Just wondering, did you pay all of those "fees"?
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IrinaP



Joined: 17 Mar 2015
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Sat Mar 28, 2015 10:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hello everyone. I got an e-mail like that from English Academy Molfetta. After a "texting' interview they sent me a contract and a request to pay 431E for the ticket and 520E visa fee. The names they used were Nicoletta Paparella (the director of the school), Vanni Efisio (the guy from Alitalia) and Omar Arrigo (the visa guy), they wanted me to send the money via money transfer due to some problems with their bank.
So I guess it's the same scam with different names. Very sad.
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