This article is about online TEFL TESOL course review scams in 2026.
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Online TEFL TESOL course review scams in 2026.
(Updated: December 21, 2025)
This is a must-read article if you are choosing which TEFL course to take and are confused by which ones are legitimate and which ones are scams.
The scams are becoming more and more sophisticated.
To prevent your TEFL dream turning into a TEFL nightmare, we strongly recommend that you read this article in full.
Online TEFL TESOL Scam TEFL programs.
Currently, the more notable scam TEFL companies are ESLinsider, ITTT International TEFL and TESOL Training, MyTEFL, The TEFL Academy, and World TESOL Academy.
1. ESLinsider
ESLinsider (Ian Patrick Leahy) portrays himself as a TEFL whistleblower and he trashes almost every TEFL program online for seemingly altruistic motives, but his endgame is to sell you one TEFL course – his TEFL course. Among a long list of criminal activity, he was recommending TEFL students without college degrees to buy fake ones online. Some people followed his advice and (in China) were arrested, fined, deported. Ian is currently wanted by the Chinese authorities and is essentially on the lamb, living a transient life in the United States. Ian was banned from Facebook for spreading misinformation and disinformation way back in 2017. https://www.eslinsider.com/
2. ITTT International TEFL and TESOL Training
ITTT International TEFL and TESOL Training operates under more than 20 different websites. Each one looks similar, but is different just enough so that you would be forgiven into believing that one website is a different company from another website. This company has a bogus accreditation from a website that spells it as “Accredidation”. Affiliate marketing is their lean and they have one favorite who will say and write anything to get you to make the purchase: Linda Dunsmore. ITTT will take your money, give you access to a subpar course, fail to respond to online tutor requests, and ghost you when it comes time for the advertised “free” job-finding help – unless you pay through the nose for their job placement services, which you are recommended to avoid like the plague.
3. MyTEFL
MyTEFL used to be accredited by OTTSA (a website they created) and are now accredited by a bogus company: International TEFL Accreditation Council (ITEFLAC). Folks, official accreditation company website’s don’t have stock images of business people in office boardrooms. MyTEFL offer affordable TEFL courses, but they make their real money from paid job placement services. Do not pay for this service. If you do, when you receive your weekly or monthly teaching pay, without realizing it at first, MyTEFL will be skimming up to 25% off. And what can you do about it when you have locked yourself into a job contract with a language school through MyTEFL? https://mytefl.com/
4. The TEFL Academy (TTA)
The TEFL Academy (TTA) is a truly corrupt corporate company. They claim to be the “Worlds #1 TEFL Course Provider!” They are not. And, despite their many claims, they are not accredited. The TEFL Academy claims to be accredited by AQC, DEAC, QUALIFI, and even by Ofqual. It is only regulated by Ofqual and QUALIFI, and it also appears that QUALIFI might have been created by the good folks at The TEFL Academy. AQC is a sister website of DEAC, and you can see that The TEFL Academy is not accredited by DEAC because DEAC has a search feature that shows all the companies that it accredits – The TEFL Academy is not listed. As with ITTT, The TEFL Academy pays affiliate marketers to promote its courses. More about this below. https://www.theteflacademy.com/
5. World TESOL Academy
World TESOL Academy is likewise shady as hell. They offer TEFL courses for $38 and this appears to lure in a lot of unsuspecting folk. After you pay, you get bombarded with requests to become one of their affiliate marketers. Students rate the course as “terrible” and a bit like flying with Ryanair, with a smorgasbord of hidden fees and additional costs. World TESOL Academy is accredited by Accreditat and CPD that are pay-for-accreditation companies that are not recognized by any reputable language schools. Another red flag is that they have the Reviews tab disabled on their Facebook page. https://www.worldtesolacademy.com/
How TEFL companies scam you.
Besides the above mentioned scams, there are some complex ways in which some TEFL companies will scam you.
And the sophistication of the scams is intensifying.
TEFL Review Website Bedfellows
Go Abroad, Go Overseas and TEFL Course Review are the three biggest TEFL review websites. They each make their money from charging TEFL companies for a listing on their site – the TEFL companies are their customers – and it is in their best financial interests to have positive reviews about (fill in the blank) TEFL company than to have bad reviews published. This is why a company like The TEFL Academy has a high review score on all three websites – they make certain that negative reviews of them are minimized and they are free to have fake positive reviews appear on all three sites, and on the other review sites where they have a listing. Incidentally, The TEFL Academy has a lot of money at their disposal and frequently sue individuals and companies if they dare to publish something negative about them. Trusted TEFL Reviews published a few negative student reviews of The TEFL Academy and we were warned that if they were not taken down, they would sue us. We simply responded that the reviews will remain published because they were written by students of their program.
Affiliate Marketing
If you see an individual excessively promoting a TEFL program – with or without a coupon code for a discount – it will certainly be an affiliate marketer. Caitriona McTiernan and Megan Broccoli are the two main ones for The TEFL Academy and Linda Dunsmore heads the ITTT affiliate marketing side of the business. A large majority of TEFL programs belong to affiliate marketing companies, paying people who have never taken their courses to promote them online and earn money for themselves in the process. They will say and write absolutely anything (“the course was AMAZING!”) to make the sell, such as promises of earning $100 per hour for teaching English online. No one earns anywhere near to $100 teaching English online.
Trashing A Business Competitor
In the Wild West of online TEFL, anything goes. It’s very common for TEFL companies to trash each other online. They create fake profiles and then write fake complaints and fake reviews – misinformation and disinformation – on complaints websites and Reddit. And TEFL programs with deep pockets, such as The TEFL Academy, have now started to pay people to take a competitor’s course and then slam it online. This is cruel and clever because the person can show that they have a certificate from the TEFL company and can write exactly what the company tells them to write. A recent case involved one of the affiliate marketers from The TEFL Academy – Megan Broccoli – who purchased a TEFL Online Pro course, completed it, claimed after an hour of course completion that she couldn’t use the certificate, and began spreading her message on Reddit and elsewhere that the company is a scam. Something similar also happened to OISE University of Toronto TEFL and CIEE TEFL. CIEE TEFL, OISE University of Toronto TEFL and TEFL Online Pro are among the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification courses.
When Online TEFL/TESOL courses were gaining traction about 15 years ago, in response to the established in-person TEFL/TESOL course industry, a few of them set up Reddit communities – communities that they used and continue to use to push their agenda. This tends to focus on trashing their competitors and clandestinely promoting their courses. We recommend avoiding Reddit for Online TEFL/TESOL course information because of this, and because of the vast number of TEFL shills active on the site.
Niche subreddits, such as online course communities, are often run by people with a vested interest in promoting certain courses—for which they receive a financial kickback. This often leads them to delete positive comments about any business competitors of the courses from which they receive kickbacks.
The r/TEFL subreddit is well known for this type of behavior—they allow positive comments for their favored TEFL companies but prevent students of some other TEFL programs from posting honest reviews of their course experiences. They even have a Reddit Wiki page that clearly demonstrates the quid pro quo partnership they maintain with certain programs.
Trashing Trusted TEFL Reviews
It must be so frustrating for the many TEFL programs that don’t have the kind of power over Trusted TEFL Reviews that they lord over other TEFL review websites. So what do they do? They spread misinformation and disinformation about me and Trusted TEFL Reviews because they just can’t handle having even one or two negative reviews published online about them. By trying to discredit this website, they hope that people won’t believe the reviews of their program. All TEFL programs listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews have a free listing and all TEFL programs are free to respond to reviews and to add comments.
The TEFL Wall of Shame.
Important Clarifying Information.
Several points need addressing, and I will write about each one separately:
The Teachers’ Choice Award
Several Online TEFL companies are claiming that the Teachers’ Choice Award is fake. It isn’t. We created the Teachers’ Choice Award back in 2019, after noticing that other mainstream TEFL review websites had also created their awards. The fundamental difference between our award and the awards of other mainstream TEFL review websites is that the winner of the Teachers’ Choice Award is based on merit alone – voted for by language schools, universities, TEFL students, and TEFL graduates. If a company has won an award from a mainstream TEFL review website, it means they have likely paid for the privilege of “winning” that award.
TEFL Online Pro
TEFL Online Pro (https://teflonlinepro.com/) has won the Teachers’ Choice Award for seven consecutive years – they are the highest-rated in 2026. They have won the award every year because they were the Online TEFL/TESOL program that received the most votes. Trusted TEFL Reviews does not own TEFL Online Pro, just as it doesn’t own the other four Online TEFL/TESOL programs that currently hold the place of being one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL programs. Trusted TEFL Reviews is an independent Online TEFL/TESOL reviews website. We are not affiliated with any TEFL/TESOL program listed on the Trusted TEFL Reviews website.
Trusted TEFL Reviews is a not-for-profit website
Contrary to what some Online TEFL programs claim, it doesn’t cost anything to list your Online TEFL/TESOL program on Trusted TEFL Reviews. Also, we don’t allow any paid advertising because we feel that it could present a conflict of interest. The only advertising allowed is granted to the TEFL program winner of the annual Teachers’ Choice Award. TEFL Online Pro (https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-reviews-in-2025/) is the winner of this year’s award, so they have been allowed to promote any TEFL course discounts that they may run during the year. This additional exposure on Trusted TEFL Reviews is without charge for the TEFL program currently enjoying Teachers’ Choice Award winner status.
I am not a man
I identify as a woman because I am a woman, living and teaching English in Vienna, Austria. Contrary to what some Online TEFL/TESOL companies have written about me online, I am not a “man”, I am not a “dyke”, and I am not a “b!tch”. I am a mother. I co-own Trusted TEFL Reviews with my partner and we run Trusted TEFL Reviews together, from our apartment in Vienna. We also have a small office within the city limits that we visit mostly during the summer months when the air-con in the office is a welcome respite. We also run the Teachers’ Choice Award from this office. It is no Online TEFL/TESOL program’s beeswax what our addresses are and we both feel safer not disclosing our addresses. I have received threats in the past simply because I wouldn’t delete a negative review written about one of the TEFL programs listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews.
We never delete reviews from Trusted TEFL Reviews, unless the review is later found to be fake
Online TEFL/TESOL course programs are the customers of the mainstream Online TEFL/TESOL review websites. The programs pay a yearly fee to be listed on the review website, and this is how those review websites generate the majority of their commercial income. Those review websites have a strong financial incentive to hide negative reviews and hold almost no verification process for publishing positive reviews – the vast majority of which are written by the TEFL company. Trusted TEFL Reviews has a strong verification process in place and we only publish reviews that have been proven to have been written by a real TEFL student. This has infuriated a few Online TEFL/TESOL companies – companies that are used to chalking up fake 5-star reviews on those mainstream TEFL review platforms.
We allow all of the TEFL companies listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews to respond to reviews
All Online TEFL/TESOL companies listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews are free to respond to any review published about their program. The vast majority of programs choose not to, but some do. The most prolific company to respond to reviews – responding to every review they receive – is TEFL Online Pro. This company is proactive and recognizes the importance of thanking customers for writing positive reviews and addressing any issues presented by negative reviews. If an Online TEFL company writes that they tried responding to a review but were unsuccessful in doing so, it is a flat-out lie.
Russian review websites
A few months ago, an Online TEFL/TESOL company reached out to me – a company not listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews – complaining that their business wasn’t doing so well. They blamed their dwindling revenue on the many cheap Online TEFL/TESOL programs undercutting them with lower prices. They suggested that they would “handle the Google Ads campaigns” of those programs through a process known as click fraud. They also suggested that I should write some damning reviews about those programs on complaintsboard.com. I refused the offer and told the individual to focus on improving their course offerings and customer services. complaintsboard.com, dirtyscam.com, and ripoffreport.com are all Russian-owned websites. They may claim otherwise, but they operate outside of countries where they can be held accountable for the defamatory material that they allow to be published on their websites. I read one recent “complaint” that TEFL Online Pro is offering courses illegally and not paying their taxes. This, of course, is just fiction. I also read another “complaint” where someone had written that OISE University of Toronto TEFL is a scam and their certificates are not valid internationally. Also, fictitious. The rogue Online TEFL/TESOL companies use these websites to badmouth their business competitors because all you need to do to have your review published is to verify your email address – using any name to create an account. Those Russian websites feel protected from legal repercussions and they are the go-to websites for the dregs of the Online TEFL/TESOL certification course world.
TEFL companies that want to take over the world
The TEFL Academy (https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/the-tefl-academy/) is the perfect example of a company that wants it all, and they are willing to break all the better business rules to achieve their objective. We began listing this program on Trusted TEFL Reviews a few years ago. Within a couple of days, we received an avalanche of 5-star reviews for them, but not one of the reviewers was willing to prove course participation in The TEFL Academy program. They were fake reviews. We also have it on good word that this company reaches out to its graduates and offers them a free mini TEFL course if they write a positive review. This is why there is such a disconnect between their reviews on Trusted TEFL Reviews and their reviews on Facebook, Trustpilot, etc. World TESOL Academy (https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/world-tesol-academy/) is also guilty of this shameless and flagrant middle finger to the better business rules. They claim to be the “Worlds #1 TEFL Course Provider.” This obviously isn’t true, as are many other claims on their website.
Our advice for Online TEFL/TESOL companies
Interact with your customers! If you receive a positive review, thank the customer for spending their time to review your program. If you receive a negative review, apologize and try to right a wrong. Don’t write false sh*t about me or Trusted TEFL Reviews just because you got some negative feedback.
Our advice for Online TEFL/TESOL students
The Online TEFL/TESOL industry is unregulated and highly competitive. Some companies will swear blind to you that you need to take their course because it has more hours or because it has won so many awards. The Teachers’ Choice Award is the only Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program award that cannot be bought. The industry standard is a 120-hour TEFL/TESOL certification course (140 hours if it includes 20 teaching practice hours). You don’t need more training hours because those extra hours are meaningless for TEFL employers. If you pay less than US$100 for a 120-hour Online TEFL/TESOL certification course, you WILL regret it.
Accreditation
To prevent you from becoming a victim of a TEFL scam, we recommend that you choose a Fully Accredited TEFL/TESOL certification course provider.
The most well-known accreditation companies – offering Full Accreditation:
ACCET – Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training.
ACTEFLC – Accreditation Council for Teaching English as a Foreign Language Courses.
OISE – University of the Toronto Faculty of Education.
University of Cambridge’s English Language Assessment
If you read anything negative about these organizations online, it has been written by an Online TEFL/TESOL program – a program that likely has no accreditation itself or one that simply pays a dodgy accreditation company an annual fee.
You can see which companies are Fully Accredited and internationally recognized by looking through the program listings in the TEFL Course Directory:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/
The top-rated schools in the directory are top-rated for a legitimate reason.
The low-rated schools in the directory are low-rated for a legitimate reason.
Be smart. Don’t fall for the disinformation and misinformation.
Trusted TEFL Reviews
If and when we are notified of shady practices or even outright scams, we will post details of them in the Online TEFL Course Scams section of this website.
This ‘Online TEFL Course Reviews Scams’ article was originally written and published by Mia Williams, co-owner of Trusted TEFL Reviews (TTR) | Best Featured TEFL Articles
Related articles:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/03/30/6-tefl-red-flags/
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/03/30/common-tefl-scams/
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Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory
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That’s disgusting someone would do this. I’m planning my trip abroad for later in the year and this website has been incredibly helpful. Kudos to you!
Thanks Alina.
Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews
AIan Leahy/ESLinsider:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/eslinsider-tefl/
Continues to spread misinformation not only about trustedteflreviews, but also about other reputable websites that he hopes to chew meat off the bone from.
This was absolutely no surprise to me.
Ian Leahy painstakingly tries to project an image of a TEFL expert, but he is actually just trying to sell his (unrecognized) TEKA (TEFL) course.
Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews
I just wanted to make you aware of this company called world tesol academy because I see you have no reviews about them https://www.worldtesolacademy.com/ . I have tried to submit reviews on other platforms, but because they are paid platforms, such as Go Overseas, the bad reviews don’t get shown and because I didn’t complete the course, they don’t believe me that I took their course. The truth is that I paid for the course $34 and it was so bad that I thought I would try to get a refund and when I ask for a refund they ignored me. I sent them some very upsetting emails and they still ignored me and then denied me access to the course. This company has totally scammed me. I should have listened to my friends about taking a cheap course but I didn’t have much money. I will now start all over again and find a new course provider.
Kind regards
Laura.
World TESOL Academy is now listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/world-tesol-academy/
Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews
Thank you, Laura Allen. I almost applied the world tesol academy but now, i think it’s time to reconsider about another course…
Scams are, unfortunately, on the rise.
To prevent you from becoming a victim of a TEFL scam, we recommend that you choose a Fully Accredited TEFL/TESOL certification course provider.
You can see which companies are Fully Accredited and internationally recognized by looking through the program listings in the TEFL Course Directory:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/
The top-rated schools in the directory are top-rated for a legitimate reason.
The TEFL Course Directory was last updated on September 9, 2025.
Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews
I wanted to echo Alina’s comment because I too was helped immensely by trustedteflreviews.com when I was choosing which TEFL course to commit to. I don’t see any other TEFL review websites out there that are as open and honest as this one. I also noticed the affiliate marketing that goes on on other TEFL review websites and, for me, that is just such a disgusting business model. GoAbroad springs immediately to mind, where you can just tell that most of the reviews on the site are fake. The haters are going to hate. Keep going Mia and keep publishing verified content because without this website, I don’t think there are any other trustful sources for TEFL course reviews.
Thank you, Esther!
Sorry for the late reply.
Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews
Hello Mia,
It’s not very surprising that these fake websites are out to attack your work here on TrustedTEFLReviews. You are doing something right, because those attacks are extremely childish and signs that they are out of rope. None of their attacks are substantiated in thorough research and professional criticism against you. So, only fools will believe them.
But it is because of your work here that has helped me to confirm that I had been tricked by ITTT. Ever since then, it has made me very diligent. Thank you!
So, I am so excited that you live in Austria! I used to live and study there 20 years ago (2003/2004). I lived in Klagenfurt and got a teaching job there that was near Slovenia. So long ago, but I live in Germany now. Austria was the changing game for my entire life and I am always looking for an excuse to go back there over and over again, lol. I’m thinking of going to Wien over the Summer.
!!!!! I definitely back you !!!!
Hello Erin.
Thank you so much for your positive response!
If I’m around in Wien this summer, contact me and let’s meet for a coffee and a slice of Sacher if you have the time.
Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews
Trusted TEFL Reviews can confirm that The TEFL Academy (https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/the-tefl-academy/) now boldly (and falsely) states on its website that it is “The World’s #1 TEFL Course Provider.”
This isn’t even remotely true.
The TEFL Academy bought high in 2021 when the previous owners sold the company.
Ever since, it appears they have been scrambling, by any means, to recoup their losses.
The TEFL Academy isn’t even accredited, but they will swear blind that they are.
They rarely attack business competitors with their real name. Instead, they rely upon their affiliate marketers – marketers who swear blind they have nothing to do with The TEFL Academy.
Two spring to mind: Caitriona McTiernan and Megan Broccoli.
A few nuggets of verified student reviews and a notice from Trusted TEFL Reviews:
Review #1: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/i-was-coerced-into-writing-a-5-star-review/
Review #2: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/the-tefl-academy-certification-review/
Review #3: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/tta-the-tefl-academy/
Notice: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/the-tefl-academy-fraud/
To succeed in TEFL, you are required to hold a 120-Hour TEFL certificate (+20 hours if it includes teaching practice.) Any course that requires you to take more hours is just marketing banter.
– Trusted TEFL Reviews