** Never Send Your ID / Documents' Scanned Copy!
** Never Accept money to be sent to you!

To empty your bank account or to hijack your ID and apply for credit card in your name, many scam artists are these days using the front of a Recruiting Agency, an Employer, a Rich guy in need of Help, International Lottery Co, YOU NAME IT, and in direct or indirect ways try to get your full name, phone numbers, Address, etc.

Some even send the teachers money orders/cashier cheques, "to pay for their trip to the place of employment, or for other use". They ask the victim to buy the ticket and wire back the rest of a, for example $5000 money order, to the crooks.

The money order will clear, and the victim gets the $5000 cash and wires $3000 back to the supposed employer! Within a week the police arrest the victim for having cashed a fake money order/cashier cheque. The police even find that the victim has a partner to whom s/he has just wired a part of the money!! And, you guess what comes next!

So:

1- Send your Photo and include your Age in your personal data. Photo and age are wanted even by the best employers. Asians, specially, believe that first impression says it all. So they ask to see your photo. Most good employers don't worry about your age, but you should make sure it is there, so that they hire you for who you are (and don't change their mind after you get there)!!

You can also scan your degree / passport's ID page and use a program like 'Photoshop' to smudge the passport number, the day and the month of your birth, as well as other info that can be abused.

*** Leave only the area that shows your Name, Photo, Year of Birth and, and Nationality. Also, inform the receiver that following "the authorities' advice" you have covered those areas for security reasons.

*** Post your job-wanted ad, on this or other respected ESL sites, and seek to meet employers directly. Here, you have a chance to talk directly with the employers and avoid the recruiters that often complicate the contracts and the hiring process.

All the Best,
Ronald
Vancouver, BC, Canada