Scams Targeted at Tutors

Letter to Tutors - Saturday 19th March 2005

Dear Tutor,

I hope that this email finds you well. It has come to my attention that many of the tutors on the site, who have their email addresses in their adverts, are receiving strange emails such as the one below. This email is being sent to all the tutors on the site and, after further communication with the sender, it is obvious that this email is a prelude to some sort of scam.

Please be very aware of emails you receive about your tuition services (and any to do with money in general). It is not unusual to receive strange emails. Many people frequently have no idea how to approach a tutor because it is quite an alien experience for them. However you always need to trust your instincts. As a business it is always best to respond to enquiries but you are also an individual in a potentially vulnerable situation.

In general my advice is, if you are interested in an enquiry then follow it up. If you aren't then just send a polite reply that you will not be able to help.

If you follow up an enquiry, then I suggest you answer what you can and give your telephone number - encouraging them to talk to you about what they are looking for. If, at anytime, you get a bad feeling then just tell them that you will not be able to help and walk away from the situation. This holds true whether you are communicating face to face, by phone or by email.

The email below is strange but when I first encountered it, it did not give me any "bad feelings" but it did strike me as being very strange. I said that I would follow it up (if I was interested in the time schedule or one similar) but I would be on my guard.

It is important you know that this isn't much of a problem but it is one that you need to be aware of as it is obviously something that will happen again. After all, the whole point of the site is to make it easier to find tutors and the internet is well known for it's scams.

I hope that this helps and that the site is working well for you. All the best,

Kelly

Scam Letters

1

Hello friend,

i came across your advt. on a websit,therefore i leant that you can teach basic vocabulary,the most important grammar rules in French language.I will need the following questions to be sure that i get the best learning environment for my children and also

make sure that the teacher is right for them..

1.Provide me with more information about yourself and
2.Cost of the programs(the tuition fees for 4 week programs, 2 Hours teaching each Day five Times a Week both conversation and writen exercices).

I will arrange for the room and board as tours of the area.Perhaps they're learning this language because they're going for international studies as a programs in school that entails them to be able to know how to speak 3 foreign languages and this will be an added advantage to them if they could improve their French it would be better.At the beginning i will need you to come up with a time table together with them.I will want to know if you are emphasize on both conversation and written exercises, then I can arrange for the payment immedaitely.Please tell me what else do you need to know.

Information about the children......

1. Last Name –  Smith & Sophie  MARTINS
2. Date of Birth/Age – 16 & 17
3. Study
4. Hobbies/Interests/Talents – Reading
5. Present Level –  Intermediate
6. Previous knowledge – schools
7. The rate their skills/abilities in the following areas – fair (needs
help)
8.  Why they interested in taking French classes – International studies
9. I will prefer individual
10. What times are you available to take classes?
11. The situations do i think they will use French  --- International
studies
12.Beging next month "April"

I will need the consent form filled in and signed with these information stated above and sent to me before the children arrive your place.Awaiting your respond.

Have a great day.Please if you are replying,reply to this email

extramile201@yahoo.com .

Dolly Martins.

2

Goodday to you,

My name is Mrs Nadil Ibrahim and i am married to an Egyptian business man. At present,i seek an experienced private tutor for my teenage son that would be visiting the United Kingdom in March.I would be glad if you can advise on your expertise and let me know if you have handled such cases in the past.

I would be glad to have a partner of husband send you a certified UK cheque in advance for payment deposit and booking of your services.Every other payment would be handled in cash once my son arrives.Pls advise on your fees (per hour....per day) depending on how you have always rendered your services.I would like to also know if you pay your clients home visits or you have a place where u tutor your students.

I would be travelling to Morroco to meet my husband in a couple of days and i might not have access to a computer so i would be really appreciative if you can get in touch with me as soon as possible.

Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.
Best Regards,
Mrs N. Ibrahim.

namibro1@yahoo.com

3

Hello,
How are you and your Family,I am very interested in your
teaching and i will like you to teach my son(MATHS)and i will
like to know the price for 4 week.so i will be expecting your mail,
because i dont want my son to come home for now because i am not at
home now.so i will be expecting your respond.
Regards.........

russ_dave@keromail.com

4

Hello there, My name is Mr John Wood and i am Swedish nationality based in Africa. At present,i am looking for a good personal tutor for my 16year old son that would be visiting the United Kingdom in April.He is a GCE holder and he was an arts student at school.He has a little problem with his Mathematics and i would be glad if you can advise on your practice and let me know if you can offer your services on my behalf. In regards your fees,i would be happy to ask my client to post a certified UK cheque to you in advance for deposit and booking of your services.I would make arrangements for every other payment in cash once my son arrives.Pls let me know your fees (per hour....per day) depending on how you have always given your services.I would like to also know if you pay your clients home visits or you have a place where u tutor your students.I would be happy if you can get in touch with me as soon as possible. Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.

John.

5

From: eng max "txxron@yahoo.com"

Hello,

My name is Mr Terry Ron, I just mail to confirm if my 16year old son can join you in your GCSE tutorial. His first language is English and he is a very good boy.He is preparing for his GCSE exams. I want you to know that Formally my son has a teacher sometimes February but the Teacher lost his Wife, and he decided to quit teaching to take proper care of his Family, after we might have payed him for 6months. After all said and done, he has agreed to make the cheque payment to any teacher that we want to handle our son for the tutor . The tutor is very essentiall in my sons life and his best hobby is football. I will like you to assure me that you are going to take proper care of my son as i'm ready to pay all his neccessary Expenses. I will want the tutor to hold 4 times in a week.

Regards and hope to hear from you soon.

Note that i will get my son an apartment very close to your place so that he can be coming from there to your place for the Tutor.

6

From : Janet johnson "ladyjanet_01@yahoo.co.uk"

Dear Sir/Madam,

Good day to you over there,i am Mrs Janet I need aBusiness Studies for my daughter {Gloria ), I got your advert while surfing through the internet and I really want my child to be taught by you. Gloria is 16 year old and easily catch up. Although,I understand you are in England { UK} but I 've arranged with my cousin sister living there that my daughter is coming to stay with her for his period of tutoring and she had agreed with me,I want you to get back to me with following details:

1)your present residence address and telephone number
2)total cost of tutoring for three months(2 hours per day)
3)your years of teaching experience.
Payment cheque,
looking forward to hearing from you soonest.
Regards

Comments From Tutors:

These are all variations on the "Nigerian scams".

It works by tempting you with the offer of a large payment, several thousand pounds usually. Then once you have discussed lots of details and getting excited, a small problem with banking procedures is mentioned. Because of transferring money internationally using bonds, the bond (or money transfer) is described as necessarily being for a set amount. The fee to you is always a bit below this amount, say £150 below. You are now, having had a whole flurry of emails about this marvellous job, and building your plans around it, asked to exchange payments. You transfer £150 and they transfer £1,000 on the same day so that you end up with £850.

Of course their transfer never happens ...

Nice to know you look out for us like this. Thank you.

Its called the Counterfeit Cashier's Check.

Tutors will receive an email from a "parent" overseas saying they want tuition for their child and will send the tutor a cheque.

He does not want any tuition for his non-existent child, he just wants to steal your money. At some point he will ask for a refund of some or all of the balance.

By presenting the counterfeit cheque at a bank you yourself will be liable for the attention of law enforcement authorities in your country on fraud charges. Therefore if you choose to present it, ensure that you tell the bank of your suspicions and ask them to verify its authenticity. Unfortunately the counterfeiting is so good that the teller will likely tell you that it is a good cheque, and clear the funds in your account.

So in reality, even though your bank may pay you for the cheque, or even tell you it has "cleared," they will discover in a matter of days or weeks that the cheque is false, and come back after YOU for the entire amount. This is a common scam which has cost people millions of dollars.

The bank will then deny any liability in the matter, inform the police (who will probably arrest you) and then demand repayment.

You can read a lot more about counterfeit cheque scams simply by typing "counterfeit check scams" into Google or visiting the FBI and many other authoritative web sites.

http://www.scamvictimsunited.com/counterfeit_cashier's_check.htm is another good source.

Hello and thanks for this warning.

I received a similar msg to this too and ignored it. The reason or this is the UK certified chq. I recently got one of these from a Nigerian who sent if on from another so called tutor in the UK and asked me to cash it. The cheque was an overpayment by 3700 pounds and they asked me to transfer the money by western union. I waited for the cheque to clear and sent the money without thinking that the cheque could be fraudulent. One day later my bank phoned me to explain that the cheque was fraudulent. I have now lost a great deal of money and am in debt because of this.

I have found your site very helpful in receiving some excellent work but am now much more wary of potential clients. Of course I would not return any money again. However my bank did not act quickly enough to inform me of the fraudulent cheque and I only wish that I had known sooner that people would use a site like this for this type of activity.

I hope that you can pass on this information to all tutors to ensure that this does not happen to them.

Best regards

dear kelly

many thanks for your warning. i too have been receiving these kind of emails. of course they are harmless if one does not act upon them but you should warn other tutors what happens if one does, as did i unwittingly a couple of weeks ago. the bogus parent, a cynthia may, as she called herself sent a cheque for 4,000 pounds, expecting me to bank it, and reimburse her the amount as she decided to cancel the lessons. i did at that time smell a rat, not least because the amount was so high and took it at once to the woolwich building society, from which it was drawn. they quickly determined that it was indeed a fraudulent cheque and i wrote accordingly to cynthia may to say that i wanted nothing more to do with her(i did phone the police but they did not seem particularly interested in the matter! i suppose it is simply too difficult to catch these people). i do not know exactly what would have happened had i actually put it into my bank account. however, a friend of mine, whilst attempting to sell a car over the internet was not so lucky and gives an insight into what might have happened had i not discovered the fraud. she was sent a cheque which she duly banked and was then asked for reimbursement. the story was perfectly plausible, they were going to buy her car and then changed their minds. once the cheque had cleared into her account, she felt duty bound to return the monies to them. after a week or so the cheque was discovered by the bank to be false and the money was removed from her account. in otherwords my friend was two thousand pound the poorer. she phoned the bank and they informed her that though funds may clear should those funds in fact prove fraudulent the amount is not honoured. this is pretty scarey and shows what a nasty crime this is. i dont know whether the cheque that cynthia sent me would have cleared and then failed, or whether it was a simple money laundering operation. however, i think it is right to warn people not to accept any payment in this way to protect them from this unpleasant scam.

many thanks again for alerting us all to these emails.
caroline

A month or two ago I too received a "wacky races" enquiry, offering me 4 week's money up front. I asked a lot of questions to untangle the confused ramblings in the initial letter. I didnt get satisfactorily precise answers, so ended the communication. Not suspecting anything amiss I deleted the emails.

Keep up the good work.

Hi, i got an email from this person and asked for some more information and i got this weird response-as if you can give 20 hours of maths tuition a week! And also the fact i would have to cash a cheque for more than what i needed and then pass the rest of the money into their account. Its really dodgy!

Greig

>From: "Nadil Ibrahim" 
>To: "GREIG FRANKLAND" 
>Subject: I am interested in your services...(Mathematics).
>Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 19:58:54 +0800
>
>     Hello Greig,thank you so much for your quick response.I would be happy 
>to have my son under your tutorship for the course you teach in.I must let 
>you know that i am arranging for a place in the Manchester area where my 
>son would be staying but if you would prefer that he pays you the visits 
>for lessons,then that is fine by me.I just had a talk with my husband and 
>he would be happy to have his partner send you a certified UK cheque for 
>payment that would cover the first two weeks i.e 20GBP * 4 HRS PER DAY * 5 
>working days....I hope you understand this as total deposit to book your 
>services would be 800GBP'S to be sent to you before the end of next week.
>      I am sorry but i do not have a definite date for our arival next 
>month but i would be sure to give you one based on our further 
>discussions.I would have to apologise again for a little inconvenience i 
>might give you because the funds that is owed to my husband by his partner 
>is a bit more than your fees but i would really appreciate it if you 
>deposit the cheque in your bank and once it clears(usually 3 to 4 days),pls 
>deduct your sum and send the balance over to our travel agent via western 
>union so he can make arrangements for our trip immediately.
>       If this arrangements are fine by you,I would like you to receive 
>payment by next week so pls send your full name for the cheque to be made 
>out to you and your address for the post.I would be glad if you included 
>your contact numbers again.
>        Thank you and hope to hear from you soon,
>         Best Regards,
>         N. Ibrahim.
>
>

I also had received the type of the last example.

Usually I ask the sender to identify himself, before I even give more details of myself than published. But only with info like yours suspects can be nailed down.

Best Regards

Thanks for the update. It is interesting to know what might happen. If they can't spell too well, I guess you don't trust them! I totally agree with you that the majority are genuine and I have had some very good internet contacts, so I hope we don't get bombarded by these fake ones

I followed this one up - it was from a Dorothy Steven. Yes, it was strange, but as you said, people don't necessarily know how to approach a tutor. But it was a scam. They sent me a cheque for £4,500 and wanted me to keep my fee and send the rest to them in cash so they could hurry up and make arrangements for their children to come in March. the cheque was a fake, needless to say, which I realised.

Hi,

I've also had one of these, it was last year near Christmas. The worrying thing was that they wanted to send me £1000 and then wanted me to give their 'son' the 'change'. I pulled out as alarm bells rang but I get the feeling they would have gone to the extent of meeting me to get my cash.

Alarm bells rang for me when I asked her how old her son was and she said about 14! She didn't seem to know exactly how old her son was! Also, she was very vague about where they would be staying so she clearly didn't know Swindon which made me wonder why she wanted my help in the first place. Finally, she didn't even quibble about the price or seem at all worried about sending me, a stranger, £600 too much money.

I haven't got the emails anymore, but maybe you could share this with others.

Thanks,

I have received emails this of sort myself, one of them being the one you sent as an example about French tuition. My partner receives the same kind of emails about maths. When people write their names, they are usually English names, but they are obviously not English. It is the first thing which made me think it was a spam. Once, my partner and me received exactly the same email, but his was for maths and mine for French. Advice to tutors: Do not respond to these emails!

Hi Kelly

I got an almost identical email, except the names of the sender and two children were different. I did reply but then they got back to me suggesting all sorts of weird things about money - that i would be overpaid and have to then give them a cheque for the excess, and wanting loads of details about my address, phone numbers etc. It just sounded too strange so I haven't replied and haven't heard back.

A shame really as it would have been a good lot of money!

Yes I got the same mail from Nadil Ibrahim but was tipped off by Western Union. Tell tutors not to part with any money until they are sure the cheque is cleared. This may take 2-4 weeks.

Jane

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