Many here think that all the fraudulent schools are in China or in Southeast Asia. This is so not true.

Recently I came across a series of job advertisements for the DC International School, Washington, D.C. The "school" was advertising for French teachers, Spanish teachers, Chinese teachers, and all kinds of other employees. They were offering a pay scale of US 60K plus and miraculous benefits, half-days Fridays, etc., etc.

I did what I usually do not do without doing my due diligence -- I applied (but did not send them any accompanying documents).

Then I did my research. Their website is nearly empty. The school has no fixed classrooms. The school is playing on the name and reputation of another great and real Washington D.C. school called "International School of Washington". Deliberate confusion.

On the website, there is no transparency at all. The school administrators are listed, without qualifying degrees and real history, and there are no telephone numbers -- I mean no real ones -- and what was there is just shocking.

I think that this is just a Nigerian scam. I would encourage all parents and children and future teachers to exercise extreme caution in dealing with this school.

For example -- the Director of Human Resources is a Nigerian woman who was previously a barista (coffee server) at Starbucks Manhattan without any real qualifications. One of the foreign language "teachers" is a taxi driver who somehow morphed into a foreign language teacher. None of the administrator present any real nor true nor serious academic background. The school maintains a Georgetown address but apparently the campus is in one of the highest inner-city crime neigbourhoods, etc,. etc.

The facebook page is fictitious at best. Where are the real after-school activities? Academics? Classrooms? Pictures of the administrators, etc., etc.?

So this Nigerian coffee server made an appointment with me to have an interview. The date came and went and then she called three hours late. Three hours. When I sent her an email questioning this, she replied with the email from hell, such a email that only a Nigerian scammer would send ... like "never contact me again, I don't want to hear from you, leave our school alone, etc."

As I said, something is rotten in Denmark. We all know how tightly "controlled" the academic world is in the United States, and if indeed it were a true "world-class" international school, the Director of Human Resources would never be a Nigerian barista with a dubious record.

And there would be great voluminous information available about this school on the Internet -- and there isn't.

Avoid it people and let your DC friends know, just so they don't caught in the trap of thinking that they are interviewing for a real job when they are not --

the question is I just couldn't determine at what level the fraud starts but it is there for sure.

The website of the school : dcinternationalschool.org

The school told me that they have 1,400 students. A google search says "200 students".

Also Google notes that the school has NO fixed address.

Do not forward them social security numbers, employment history, etc., -- it may all be used to create fake identities.

Auroria Ekspan, M.Sc.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
September 26, 2016