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