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Warning! Private Teacher Scam

  • 29-06-2010 12:42pm
    #1
    english teacher in cork
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2 ✭


    I wasn't quite sure where to put this....

    On Sunday 27th of June, I put an advert in the offering English lessons sticky. On Monday I got the following reply in my email acc:

    Subject (i need a tutor)

    I need a tutor for my son for the following subject.urgently needed if you are you still available,Pls get back to me with your schedule.

    1.English Language
    2.General Math
    3.French
    4.Science
    5.Economics
    6.Spanish

    Oddly, although sent to my account, it was addressed to another person on this site advertising french lessons.

    Instantly, I felt this email was a little off, but anyway, I gave a brief reply stating what I charge per hour.

    The next day I got this reply:

    Hi,


    I am John Parker am from Holland,I have a son whose name is craig,he is 14 years old and also in the GCSE.whom will be coming for a holiday in Ireland ,and i wont want him to be less busy during his stay there,so i just want to know maybe you can always teach him great things in his studies every 3 times in a week.

    If this is possible,i will want you to get back to me with the cost of your teaching for 1 MONTH .....he will be coming to your place for 1 hour each afternoon,.

    I have someone that will always drive him down to your house.i will suggest a local library for the tutor as its the best place to get it done.


    kindly locate a local library closer to you and let me know about it,please rule out 12 convenient sessions in order that will not disturb your other schedule.

    I will want you to calculate 1 hour per day the 3 days for the whole 1 MONTH,and get back to me so that we can arrange on payment.


    1.YOUR CHARGE FOR AN HOUR....
    2.TOTAL CHARGES FOR 1 MONTH THAT HE WILL BE TAUGHT 3 TIMES PER WEEK..
    3.FULL NAME AND ADDRESS WITH ZIP CODE....
    4.YOUR PHONE NUMBER...

    Looking forward to read from you    .

    Regards


    Hmmmm - I thought to myself, so I did a bit of googling and found this on the forums from 419eater:

    Good day to you over there, my son was born 12th APRIL 1996, i
    got your advert on the internet so i want my
    child to be taught by you.chinton is 14 year old and easily catch up,easy
    going his neat boy and gentle and intelligent,he loves education and
    atlethics. Although,i understand you are in US but i've arranged with
    my Nanny associate that my son is coming to stay with him for the period
    of the tutoring and he has agreed with me he will be in you nearest
    location to take good care of my son for the period of the tutor...pls
    i will want you to get back to me with requirement information below
    as i will like to finalize the basic arrangement before my son and the
    Nanny arrive to your location for the lesson.
    1.YOUR CHARGE
    2.TOTAL CHARGES FOR THE TUTOR
    3.FULL NAME AND ADDRESS WITH ZIP CODE
    4.YOUR PHONE NUMBER
    Don't hesitate to e-mail with your total charges.
    Thanks

    You can see its quite similar!

    This is just a warning for anybody out there, who wants to do private lessons.

    Be on your guard!


Comments

  • #2
    Wolfe Tone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,670 ✭✭✭✭Wolfe Tone


    Common scam. They send you a check to prepay(for too much) you lodge it, it "clears" he asks for the difference back. Because it is a foreign check it can take months before it is clear that it has bounced. So you are down a large amount of money.


  • #3
    Yakuza
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,141 ✭✭✭Yakuza


    The missus got something similar with classes she was offering. The first few emails seemed fine, but then the third or so started off with stating the cheque issued to her included the cost of the driver (that would bring the child to the classes) and could she send a cheque for the balance back? Once I saw that, I did an IP check on the addresses in the email headers.

    Guess where they originated from? Lagos, Nigeria. A bit far to be sending your child for a 1-hour lesson for, methinks. We said no problem, we'd just tear up the first cheque and could he send the correct amount. We never heard from him again.

    Still, it started off sounding plausible, but nowadays the scammers are getting more clever and subtle, as I reckon 99.999% of folks won't fall for the "I am the representative of the late Prince Umbongo of the Wallahwallah tribe and I wish to participate in a discrete transaction and would you be agreeable to these modalities" kind of email any more.


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