A while ago we had an active debate going online here about the value of scam alert links that went on for about two weeks with a protagonist who turned out to be an undercover TEFL recruiter posing as a friendly and helpful "fellow-teacher" who considered any and all scam alert links to be "spam". Of course I disagreed because a handful of such scam alerts saved my bacon more than once, to the tune of about $50,000 collectively over my first three years in China.
Well today, I started doing a little research here at TEFL.net and at two other forums. Example number one is this user who over 10 years posted 35 scam alert posts https://www.esl-jobs-forum.com/search.php?mode=results . Now just take a look at all of the views those links got - Over 600,000 TEFL teachers. I think it is safe to say that these 600,000+ teachers probably shared this information with at least one colleague right? So, I calculate that some 1.2 million teachers either avoided losing a bunch of money money through the scam that was brought to their attention, or made money by learning of the tips included in those alerts, like "Avoid all brokers, recruiters, and job agents and earn at least 30%-50% more by applying directly with employers" So some visitor who followed that tip would earn an extra $10,000 per year based on current China TEFL salaries for a qualified teacher.
Example number 2 is right here at tefl.net. Look at their Scam Alert thread that goes back for more than 10 years. viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4528. More than a million TEFL teachers benefited directly from these warnings either saving money or making more money, simply by being made aware of costly scams that range in losses from $500 to up to $15,000 in the case of identity theft. Here's just a sample of what tricks and traps await the average TEFL teacher in China...
* Visa Scams
* Resume Scams
* Salary Skimmers
* Probationary Period Scams
* The Silent Scam
* Bait and Switch Scams
* Recruiter Scams
* Tax Scams
* Contract Fraud
* Salary Scams
* Piggy Back Scams
* Housing Scams
* Interview Scams
* TEFL Course Scams
* Diploma Scams
* Fake Review Scams
* Internship Scams
* Overtime Scams
* Referral Scams
So when you get screwed, you may or may not be able to recover your money, BUT you can help hundreds and even thousands of your current and future TEFL colleagues from stepping in the same pile of sh*t you stumbled into. So don't every think you cannot make a difference. Take a visit to https://reddit.com/r/TEFL_tips_traps_scams , or https://reddit.com/r/TEFLscams, or https://reddit.com/r/ChinaScamCentral, and you will see exactly what I mean.