Saturday, May 2, 2009

WARNING: UK TEACHING SCAM

It started out last week. It's still quite fresh.

I am a job hunter. I hunt for jobs because as the world economy had been on a slump, jobs aren't easy to find. I hunt jobs not just for me, but for my husband as well. Since he's not very confident when it comes to English sites, i don't mind. i hunt. I post our resumes left and right. Although i gotta admit, my resume has a little bit more fire than husband's as it was my own

The first message i received was mid-April. An invitation to work in UK... sweet offer, with sweet salary plus benefits. But i thought it must be a wrong send. I checked the names on the message header and i saw that they are great English teachers! Licensed, with Masters... no there must be a mistake.

Then i received two more.. and this time, since i am a job hunter, without a clue where i have left my resume online, i consulted my husband. I was skeptical. But as my husband usually doesn't tell me anything positive (as i clearly instructed him to do), soothed my doubts away and encouraged me to try. There's always no harm in trying... but i smelled something fishy about it. They all wanted the same: teach my wife and kids.

I like kids... and so, one afternoon while my kids were napping, i responded to these e-mails. Be warned, it's a scam. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.


Looking For An ESL Teacher
...
Miguel diaz
...
View Thursday, April 23, 2009 8:57:04 AM
To:dr.igmiguel@gmail.com


Dear Teacher,
i am Dr Miguel Diaz from Colombia,presently residing here in the UK with
my wife amandine and two kids by name , Sebastian and Diana ,
i am in need of an english teacher to come a
nd teach my wife and kids for
a period of one year,
Compensation and Benefits Package.:A very attractive monthly salary which
is GBP4,500 Paid monthly, Quality single or family h
housing on arrival down
here,medical insurance,travel allowance,
Thank you for your anticipated resp
onse phone: +447024043001...
Dr Miguel

Oh, this is just one... Only this one actually progressed.
Dear Teacher Deianne
hope you are doing very good at the moment,
i sure sent the e-mail to you ok,there is nothing mistaken about it,
is nice getting your interest over the job,i have gone through your
resume which you sent to me and it is very excellent though brief,
how long have you been at south Korea?
your level of experience is very great and i think i can confine in that alone,
when can you be able to make it down here?
are you presently working?
do you have a valid international passport?
will you be coming alone or with your kids?
your resume did not even state if you are a male or female,
will be waiting to hear from you asap,feel free to call me at your free time
presently discussing you with my wife and kids,
cheers
Dr Miguel
I'm an idiot! He's flattering and he can't do English... as bad (or worse!) than Koreans. Let's cut to the chase. Two days later, he sent me a CONTRACT. A very vague contract, so i had to consult my friend in Australia. She had been travelling around the globe because of jobs. I was excited, I'm telling you. I thought, why is Korea so unkind? And this man is willing to hire me even though i only mentioned i am not a native speaker... He said i could take my family and he'd pay for absolutely everything... airfare, utilities, the works. He even sent pics!!


I say... okay.. i see kids. But my husband, skeptical as i am, he's more. He requested a picture of their house, and the house that was for me.


The big house (he said) his house, and the one on the right would be mine. His reason why there aren't any interior pics (from "my" house) is because it's being decorated and it's locked.

QUESTION: IF HE WAS THE ONE RENT THE PLACE THEN WHY CAN'T HE ACCESS IT?

Cute London house. I heard houses in London look like this.... very similar.

Okay... starting to get drowsy here. I'll be back, with more news.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your warning! I just got an e-mail from "Dr. Miguel Diaz". Good thing that i googled out his name first before making any actions.

Thanks again.

Sina said...

Yep, he's at it again (October 2009) - I have received the same photos and advice. He has sent me 'passport' photos as well. AND then I got another email from a "Cardiologist" in Scotland wanting the same thing... so what was the end of YOUR story?

Unknown said...

I too just received this job offer from Dr. Miguel Diaz. I really appreciate this info and was motivated to share my experience as well to save someone else the headache of a scam .

He just sent me another e-mail saying that he and his wife and two kids are all watching movies and then they will go to bed...awwwwwwwwwwwww...how sweet.

He makes you trust that he is a happily married man. This is really a cruel joke/scam. I could only imagine being gullible and fly there thinking that you will have a great job with a great family and dare not think what it REALLY is...

I felt initially that the salary was very high and then I reasoned why would he need to hire someone from another country when there are tons of ESL Teachers locally.


This proves that your 'gut' intuition is always right and you have trust it.

Good work for researching this character.

All the best to you!

California

reijene said...

The end of my story?

despite the fact that we were skeptical around this offer, we decided to poke around. While i was sweet talking Miguel Diaz, i was also trying to find out if it were a scam or not. I even called the number he game me. LOL, and he answered. I have recived quite a number of offers, and i was able to prove all of them were not real.

I called in favor from friends all over the world. I was able to confirm through friends that it was indeed a scam.

At the same time, i finished a rather vague agreement with him. I can take my kids. He would support everything that i will need so my family could move together with me. He sent me a contract, he sent me visa forms, AND had me talk to his lawyer.

After doing all everything, they asked me to pay... lol... for my visa prep (like i would, seriously?) over there and pay almost 400 Pounds. Seriously asking me? LOL. i don't even spend anything on a hairdryer! One rule of an overseas worker: you never pay for anything.

Anyway, there were offers. I searched all of them through friends. I asked my friends to drop by the addresses given, check the phone numbers, and what do you know.. ALL OF THEM FAKE. One sure way of finding out? Google the number and not the name.

Sometimes, it pays to be curious and skeptical at the same time. And having friends all over the globe helps..

Rachel said...

It's still going on. A friend of mine just received a job offer from a "French Doctor" in the U.K. Totally bullshit.

Anonymous said...

Is this true??? my God!!! I received a mail from Dr. Miguel Diaz two weeks ago stating same thing. As in exactly same contents. I replied and we're now e-mailing with each other. Actually, my friend asked me to check his name in the net to check his credibility. I didn't entertain that, but this morning when I woke up, I thought of checking him in google. Good thing I did! He almost hooked me! What a good scammer! Nice words with flattery statements. Now I have realized why he didn't entertain my suggestion to have a conversation through any messenger sites. My God! I could hardly believe this! This is the first time in my life. WHO IS THIS IDIOT???

Please update me about this stupid man at www.friendster.com/iamiam

*Sparkles* said...

Thanks for all the warnings, he sent me one too. I have the same exact photos and then some. We actually just had a conversation on the phone about how happy his family is that I am coming. I also emailed his attorney and asked a ton of legitimate legal questions. Geez...what a crook!