So I was nearly part of a job scam. As annoying and disappointed as I am, at least I didn’t send any money and want to make as many TEFL teachers aware of it as possible.
I was contacted saying that they had my contact details on a TEFL website. I do have my resume up on lots of different websites, so this seemed fine. It was a German Private school in Spain.
I was asked to send my resume, details of certificates, etc. Again not unsusal.
I did that and was selected for a the second round.
There was a list of about 20 questions that I had to answer. There were pretty detailed questions asking about discipline, teaching methods etc. I was told that there would be no need to have a phone interview, which I found highly unusual, as surely they needed to hear my accent etc.
I was then sent the following email.
'This is to inform you that you have been finally selected to work with us.Our recruitment/employment procedure this year does not require a phone interview.That is why we selected only the candidates with the best qualifications.A detailed work contract is attached to this email.Fill your name and other necessary information carefully and sign at the space provided below.
Please print out the contract,then sign,scan,attach and return the signed contract to this email address.At no.4 of employee's personal information,you will see CONTRACT PERIOD,just fill 7thJuly 2010 to 7TH July 2011.
Please be informed that you are expected to arrive on the 3rd of July in order to attend the orientation programe prior to job commencement.Kindly send thepaymentthrough WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER.Receiver's name: DAVID FREEMANAddress:Apartado de Correos, 318Marbella,Malaga,Spain.
Please send the transfer details to: info@colealemanjuanhoffmann.comAs soon as the finance department confirms your payment,we shall reserve your accomodation and commence the processing of your travelling and working documents. Only non EU's are advised to send both the accomodation reservation fee and the visa processing fee.EU's are expected to send only the accomodation reservation fee.NB: At your leisure,do not forget to fax a copy of the payment slip/receipt that was issued to you after the payment at the WESTERN UNION OFFICE.It has to be kept in your record for future reference.Our fax number is found on our website www.colealemanjuanhoffmann.com and on top of the contract paper as well.Congratulations!Daniela'
They wanted me to send 900 euro via western union to secure my accommodation. I was told that I would be reimbursed during orientation.
The money was to be sent to DAVID FREEMAN
Address: Apartado de Correos, 318 Marbella, Malaga, Spain.
Even when moving to Korea, I did not have to send any money. I asked for an email address of someone who was currently working there and was giving the email address 'georgephilip70@yahoo.co.uk'. I googled this and came up with this social networking website.
I was still wary and searched for the address online and it came up on this scam website. There is also a post on Dave's ESL about it here.
This is the schools real website - http://www.dsmalaga.com/
The scammers use this website - http://www.colealemanjuanhoffmann.com/.
They have even created an ESL page. That wasn't there a few days ago. The 2 websites are identical and the scammers have just replaced the real email addresses with their fake one!
The email addresses used for communication are
info@colealemanjuanhoffmann.com
cajhdocuments@rediffmail.com
director@colealemanjuanhoffmann.com
I am trying to include as much information as possible so that if anyone searches for them, like I did, this post will come up.
NO ONE CAN SCAM OUR JOSS IF IT SEEMS TO BE TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE ITS NOT ALTHOUGH IT APPEARS TO BE PITCHED JUST AT THE RIGHT AMOUNT TO BE APPEALING
ReplyDeleteI fell into this scam! Once I sent the initial payment, they asked for more money stating that they did not know there would be additional charges. I know I won't get my money back, but am concerned that they have my passport info and SSN. I have contacted the FBI because of this.
ReplyDeleteOh that totally sucks. They seem to have done it a few times using different school names. I hope it gets sorted out for you and that you can at least learn from the experience... :(
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI have just recieved an email with the same details, googled it and found this blog. They are using Aloha College from Spain as a front. I called the IB Organisation in switzerland as Aloha College Spain is a registered IB school and they asked me If I was sure I was being contacted by the school. (Good point)They gave me the director of studies' email, to whom I sent an email with the details of the offer, Im sure he was shocked as they even had his signature and a stamp of the Misinitry of education in spain on the contract letter they sent me. ESL Teachers, beware. I would like to make more people aware of this scam, can anyone help?
Hi, the only thing I can think of is to contact the websites where the job is posted and post it on any TEFL forums and maybe if you have a blog write about it there with tag words, so it will pop up on searches. Totally suck. >:(
ReplyDeleteHi to everyone. I had the same experience under the Colegio Aleman Scam. I almost send the money too. It was so frustrated once I realized it was a scam. I hope they get caught soon!!!! How could we make them to stop doing this?
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I can think of is to fully research the school and try and talk to someone from the school.
ReplyDeleteAlso if it is a scam makes sure all the popular websites are aware of it, so as many teachers know as possible.
Most times if it seems to good to be true, it probably is! :(