Rheno747
- 2005-08-14
What's the latest word on Contek? I've been emailing them to learn more. I've told Ms. Howard I'd come on my own ticket (thanks to sky miles), so I wouldn't need a reimbursement. That was a week ago, and so far no word from her.
Who knows. Maybe she'll say that's fine, and I'll then be flying to Jo-Burg. Will I see you there?
Rheno747
Rheno747
- 2005-07-26
I've sent several emails to the contact provided in your post requesting info on Contek. I've not heard a word from them and it's been a week.
It's a scam. Good luck resolving this with the authorities. I assume Mike at Mike's ESL knows his website is being used to promote fraud.
R747
Rheno747
- 2005-07-23
James, I'm sorry about what happened to you. You're right--you let your guard down. Unfortunately that is all it takes. You say you were lied to in South Korea. I'm in that boat. I was lied to by the director at a 'great elite' school in SK that turned out to be a simple run-of-the-mill hogwan. It was a typical cram school full of rich brats that were simply uncontrollable during class.
Anyway, I'm thinking of emailing this guy you're talking about at Contek. I'm bored in Thailand right now waiting on my flight back home, so I think I'll throw him a line and see what he tells me. I'll play like I'm the typical naive, desperate type who's willing to settle for crumbs. Wish me luck.
R747
James Pipp
- 2005-07-22
Hi again, Ian.
I will certainly be in touch with Merseyside police as I believe that is the right jurisdiction, although the address of the recipient of the Western Union transfer was resident in Coventry.
Interesting to hear that you got an email Jeanne. Let's compare emails!
This is a cut and paste of the mail I recieved on Fri I July. I wonder if yours is exactly the same.
I wrote asking for answers to questions that were not acknowledged in this email, but notice the final line...such sentences, as in Mr Howard's emails, were the clincher for me to think that I had the job and was expected to arrive soon to a warm reception!
......
BTW .....I did wonder at the time how a Czech national had a completely Anglo-saxon name. Jeanne is definitely not a slavic girls name! But I made all sorts of excuses for that, which I now wish I hadn't!
HI JAMES!
MY NAME IS JEANNE CRAWFORD AND I WORK WITH CONTEK INSTITUTE OF LANGUAGES IN LIVERPOOL UNITED KINGDOM. I AM SORRY I AM WRITITNG YOU BACK SO LATE. I HAVEACTUALLY BEEN AWAY FROM UK TO MY HOME COUNTRY IN REPUBLIC OF CZECH AND MY COMPUTER AT HOME HAS BEEN BAD FOR A WHILE NOW. I WORK IN UK AS A BIOLOGY TEACHER AND I HAVE REALLY BEEN GETTING ALONG FINE WITH THE STUDENT I TEACH. I ACTUALLY GOT INTO UNITED KINGDOM IN 2004 AND I HAVE FULLY GOTTEN ADAPTED WITH BRITISH CULTURE.
I FOUND LIFE MORE PLEASANT HERE IN LIVERPOOL BECAUSE OFTHE BLISSFUL ENVIRONMENT AND THE CONDITIONS OF MY SERVICES WITH CONTEK INSTITUTE OF LANGUAGES. THE MANAGEMENT OF CONTEK INSTITUTE ARE KIND OF PEPOLE TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH BECAUSE OF THEIR MANNERS OF CONSIDERATION WITH ALL THEIR STAFFS. MY CONTRACT ENDS IN 2006 BUT I AM RE-NEWING IT BECAUSE I LOVE EVERYITING ABOUT THE BRITISH STYLES AND WAYS.
THE ONLY PROBLEM WE FACE HERE IS THEIR TAX SYSTEM WHICH IS VERY HIGH BUT NEVERTHELESS WE ARE STILL COMFORTABLE WITH IT. I ALSO BELIEVE THEIR IS TAX WHERE.
THE NUMBERS OF THE FOREIGN TEAHERS ARE VERY FEW HERE IN CONTEK INSTITUTE AND I DO HOPE WE HAVE MORE OF THEM SOON.I WILL TRAVEL BACK TO LIVERPOOL IN 2 WEEKS TIME.
AND I WILL LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN LIVERPOOL WHEN YOU ARRIVED.
REGARDS
JEANNE CRAWFORD
BIOLOGY TEACHER
CONTEK INSTITUTE
LIVERPOOL
UNITED KINGDOM
James Pipp
- 2005-07-22
Hi Ian
I am posting this to find out if I am the only person who actually lost money.
To date I haven't informed Scotland Yard, mainly because I have been monitoring this board to see if others have had the same experience.
I gather from all the posts that have been generated by your original posting that there are a few teachers out there who actually were in contact with Contek. But what I'd like to know is how many established an ongoing email discussion with Michael Howard of Contek. It was this discussion - about arrival dates and work-related issues - that sucked me in to believing the genuine nature of the job - even though, like others, I orginally thought that I smelled a rat too.
My final decision to go ahead and accept the job and make arrangements to travel was not done entirely alone. I talked with friends, non-teachers, during the whole process and they read my emails and were also grudgingly convinced that it seemed genuine - so encouraged me to go ahead with it.
It was only due to the volume of emails between me and Contek that made me 'put down my guard' and send money via Western Union. Mr Howard said that it was both an internal accounting necessity as well as keeping the whole travel and arrival process within the Travel Agents responsibilities...which sounded reasonable at the time.
Unlike one person who posted 'I shake my Head...' I am not a fool. I have been lied to blatantly in the past when I worked in Korea, and I am also totally aware of scams operated by Agents there and in China. But this situation puts the whole issue of Job Postings on the web on another level!
Yes, I too found the job on mikesesl.com
Cheers
James
Rheno747
- 2005-07-21
I assume you've already told the IMPs at Mark's site about what happened to you.
Lately I've had serious doubts about the internet. I read stories like yours and I want to throw away my computer.
The information superhighway is supposed to be a place to find opportunity to MAKE money--not lose it. Yes, lots of folks would be a LOT better off it they'd stayed off that highway.
Ian Williams
- 2005-07-20
Hi Curious
The job was advertised on Mark's ESL World, I believe. I've applied through so many sites recently I'm losing track. Certainly it was on an official recruiter's wevbsite. Hope this helps.
Ian
Ian Williams
- 2005-07-20
James
I'll certainly pass on your email address to Scotland Yard but I'd also suggest you get in touch with the local police as well. It can't hurt and maybe the correct avenue. Incidentally, I received a reply from one of those teachers - Jeanne I believe, addressed to Dear James!
Ian
observer
- 2005-07-20
Contek Institute of Languages <britneyhwrd@yahoo.com>
Their IP: 81.199.85.91
Just in case you alert the police. I read on the net that Yahoo.com could provide the pc physical address where the message came from.
James Pipp
- 2005-07-20
Thanks, I was about to email Mersyside police via their website, but if Scotland Yard is the best place then go ahead.
Elephant
- 2005-07-20
Ian, how did you initially find out about Contek? Did you see an ad on a website? Did they send you an unsolicited email offering the position? Did a friend provide you with the job lead?
Curious
billy
- 2005-07-19
Contek Institute of Languages
Ian Williams
- 2005-07-19
Thanks for the warning all those who have been conned. I thought I smelled a rat and you have just confirmed it. Sorry you lost your cash but you have the consolation of knowing that you stopped someone else falling into this trap. I shall inform Scotland Yard's fraud squad of this con. Cheers Ian
Rheno747
- 2005-07-19
Man, oh man. After reading this post, I beat my head on my keyboard. I just don't get it. Consenting adults who are supposed to be educated make such bone-head mistakes with their money.
Why would you send any school, rep, or recruiter MONEY?
Jesus.
RK
James Pipp
- 2005-07-19
The following is an email I sent last Saturday to two teachers whose names I was given by Mr Michael Howard of Contek as a response to my request to write to teachers working at Contek as a way of validating their school. To date I have had no replies to this latest email from me, although these two did reply originally (out of four names in total) and they described the school and staff in positive terms.
Contek also sent six photos of the school and students which seemed genuine.
All this made me accept a position, and thru a series of increasingly personable emails with Mr Howard, I arrange my affairs to travel to the UK last Tuesday, 11 July.
Read on:
Chucks and Jeanne, you already know me as we have had
email contact before. The other two teachers I wrote
before but so far have not replied. I beg you all
respond to this email please.
Last week today, Saturday, I sent 272 British pounds
to Skyview Travel agency, under the instructions of
Michael Howard of Contek Institue. I had offered to
pay for my flight via the airlines webpage but Mr
Howard insisted that I do it through their 'official'
agent because they were also picking me up from the
airport and somehow it made invoicing and paperwork
sense to Contek. Although it seemed an uneccessarily
circuitious route, I did what I was asked.
Due to a delay with Western Union the money was not
picked up until late Tuesday. I was informed by both
Skyview and Western Union themselves. The payee was
the Skyview accountant.
Skyview wrote in that last email that the accountant
had not arrived in the office at their time of writing
and so they would email me the next day with my flight
details.
That is the last I have heard by email of both Skyview
and from Contek Insitute. Today is Saturday, so it
makes four days of no contact, which is very strange
because prior to recieving my money I was sometimes in
daily contact with either Mr Howard or the Agency.
I have phoned Contek three time over the past two
days. I apparently spoke with Mr Howard once and he
promised to email me the next day, which he didn't.
Both times I phoned the first time the office ambient
noise was very high and it did not have the
'professional' feel of a school's reception.
Yesterday I called again and spoke to a man who
answered to the name of Mr Mack or Matt Berkley. He
told me not to come anymore and that Skyview had
'ripped off' Mr Howard, not just with my ticket money
but, 'All the other teachers who were coming.' He said
Mr Howard was suing the travel agency, but that their
recruitment programme was now suspended
indefinitely.The reason he gave for no email contact
by Mr Howard was that he was so caught up in this new
development.
Obviously I am very concerned. In my emails with Mr
Howard I discussed my difficult financial situation
and he seemed genuinely understanding. I now don't
know if the whole school, or the job, is a fiction or
not. The generous salary package does seem almost too
generous, but there are some International schools
that pay similar.
I have not been given a street address for the
Insitute, and there is no website. But, I asked for
and recieved your four email addresses. Two of you
wrote back and allayed any misgivings that I had up to
then.
I was sent 6 photo of the school, students, and staff
quarters, which all seemed reassuring and genuine.
I now beg you to answer this email and hopefully give
me the answer to these questions:
Is Contek Insitute a geniune Language Institute?
What is the street address of the school?
Is their a Head Teacher or DOS? Do you have their
email and/or telephone number?
How many full-time employees are there, and can you
suggest who might be able to answer my phone calls
more easily? - as the two gentlemen I have spoken with
both seemed to have communication and pronunciation
difficulties.
Did you have to also use Skyview Travel Agents when
you were recruited?
Who recruited you?
Were you recruited via the web, like me?
I don't want to think what is increasing becoming
apparent to me, ie. that I have been ripped-off.
To use a Professional ESL Recruitment channel on the
internet and target a group of often selfless
underpaid individuals is too despicable for me to even
want to think this.
So, as a matter of urgency to me, because I have been
packed and ready for the past four days to leave for
my new job - and I am financially stretched, could you
please give me some answers about Contek, Mr Howard,
and Skyview?
I need contact names, addresses and phone numbers
mostly so I can speak to someone to verify the
situation.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
James Pipp
James Pipp
- 2005-07-19
Hi
I am in the process of writing up a post for this board about my complete experience with an application I made to Contek. But I am wondering if you sent money, like I did for my air fare one way, via their apparent travel agent, Skyview. On receipt all emails stopped and that has been exactly one week ago. I wonder if the name of the payee is the same person I sent it to?
This seems to be an obvious scam now, but it seemed very geniune at the time, although a little unusual.
I will warn as many ESL boards as I can today.
Any info will be useful....thanks
James Pipp
- 2005-07-19
Whatever you do, DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY!
See my post which will tell my story.
teacher
- 2005-07-18
I don't know them, but hope this helps.
Is there anyone there who can help me with information about the Contek Institute in Johannesburg, South Africa? I have been offered a job there but can find no details about them. If anyone can help me, I'd be extremely grateful. Either post a reply or send direct to my email: robertian.williams@gmail.com
Thanks
Ian Williams 