This may come as a shock to you, but most of scams that target TEFL teachers originate at the recruitment stage which is dominated by foreigners in the U.K., America, Canada, Australia, and South Africa. Watch this video https://youtu.be/BUOpxeeqx6s and if you still have any doubts visit any of these links or look at the names on the CTA, CFTU, ETA, or ChinaScamWatch.org blacklists. Granted, you will see quite a few Chinese names, but you will see even more English names. Even the first page at https://reddit.com/r/ChinaScamCentral will prove this to be true
I learned about this the hard way from a Canadian recruiter named David V. who screwed me out of $10,000 when I first came to China years ago. After he put my wallet on a crash diet I discovered he was on both the CTA and CFTU blacklist. On this list I count 145 foreign con artists https://www.docdroid.net/ZU9pFSI/cftu2020blacklist-pdf
Before sending off your resume or passport scan, be sure to check https://reddit.com/r/teflscams and to vaccinate yourself against foreign teacher job scams.
Watch your step in China. There is a pile of shit waiting for your foot around every corner that only laowai seem to step in. See https://reddit.com/r/workabroadfraud.
It's true the second biggest scam artist and owner of the second oldest expat scam in China that specifically only targets fellow expats is a Russian guy NOT a Chinese. Like teacher John said, greed is powerful and from what I have seen, most of the China TEFL recruiters are former expat teachers who realized how much money the China job agents were making from just one new TEFL teacher, who like me, didn't know squat when I decided to take the plunge. Here is what I calculated my agent made from me:
Visa Services - $500
Job Placement - $5,000 (he skimmed me monthly)
TEFL Course - $300 referral fee
Apartment - $500 Landlord referral fee
Total for one year he made $6,300 - just from me
My TEFL recruiter drives a $50,000 Audi TT and has a 3 bedroom apartment at Chaoyang Park Estates. He once told me that he places 3-5 teachers every week so multiply $6,300 by 150 (victims per year) and you can see why some greedy expats without morals probably wake up and ask themselves "Hey, why should the Chinese steal all the money?"
I just read about this Russian guy Yuri who abandoned his prostitution ring of Russian girls to open a expat recruitment business. I met him at Lush in Wudaokou last month and he was actually introduced to me as "The Scam King of China" and Yuri seems proud of his title and after a few drinks he bragged to some Chinese girls that he makes over $2 million dollars as year. He did not deny that he cheats people and justified it by saying "Look, everyone needs to learn some hard lessons in life and if not me, it would be some Chinese taking their money". A few days ago, I was reading about Yuri on the internet and how he uses many aliases to snare his victims and this photo was there. https://media.makeameme.org/created/96ac71a136.jpg I went a few pages back in the search results, and after reading this link, I am now thinking that this man has no soul and must eat, sleep, and dream only money. https://www.reddit.com/r/TEFLScams/comm ... nd_sister/
Until I met Yuri and read about him, I never wished harm on anyone, but I now actually wish that a few of his victims start hanging out at Lush because I was told he goes there at least once a week and he might be persuaded or cajoled to start returning all the money he has stolen. So if you see this guy, grab your wallet and run -don't walk https://media.makeameme.org/created/96ac71a136.jpg
I was reading about this subject at https://reddit.com/r/ChinaTeachers and saw that the two biggest TEFL scammers in the world are both in China and one is a Chinese woman known by five different names; Rosie, Rebecca, Ruby, Rose, Roseanne, Rachel Tang (none of these names are real. Her real last name according to the China Daily Newspaper is Liu. This is what she looks like: https://external-preview.redd.it/308A5M ... f572688325
The other is a foreigner, a Russian named Yuri who owns Laowai Career, Gi2C, Getin2China, Wiseway, and China HR. If he married Rosie they would have the biggest scam dynasty. As you can see, this dude is proud of his notorious reputation; https://media.makeameme.org/created/96ac71a136.jpg
Watch your step in China. There is a pile of shit waiting for your foot around every corner that only laowai seem to step in. See https://reddit.com/r/workabroadfraud.
Btw... many of them are not even in the country where they are recruiting and rely on virtual disposable telephone numbers, emails, and some even invest in a web site. They do all their interviews on Skype. Some invest in spoofing software and you will never have any clue where they really are.
You know, the irony of this huge problem is that new job applicants are all told "Don't trust the Chinese job agents" by mods on all the TEFL forums. But most of those mods are really undercover recruiters themselves who use sock puppet accounts to recruit newbies with DMs! In the end they will skim and scam you even more than the Chinese! But all the newbies get programmed to think they are safe if they deal with fellow-foreigners. Read this old article so you can see false this is; https://chinascampatrol.wordpress.com/2 ... principal/
I am now going on my 8th year teaching in China VIP tutoring with and without school referrals, I always check these sites to eliminate all the vultures.
Finally, be aware that even the Chinese crooks hire foreign recruiters (usually beautiful girls and handsome men) to lure newbie job applicants. Do not be fulled by pretty web sites, fake testimonials, or verbal promises. The above sites don't lie and what is written in your contract is all that really counts.
