TEFL Scams and how to avoid them.
May 28 2023 Update:
Trusted TEFL Reviews recently exposed the ITT International TEFL and TESOL Ltd. and the World TEFL Institute programs for being outright scams.
Both programs are owned and operated by James Anthony Dwyer, as is the fake accreditation website that accredits both programs.
James is truly a vile individual and is a blight on the TEFL/TESOL industry.
One of the aspects of his proven scam is his false claims that he donates a portion of his customers’ money to charity.
The full article, including quite a few appalling comments added by James:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/11/14/itt-international-tefl-and-tesol-ltd/
The proof contained within the article offers irrefutable evidence of an extremely complex TEFL program scam.
As a result of us ousting James as a scammer, he has followed the playbook of other TEFL programs that have also been exposed for being a scam; he has been spamming the internet with the false claim that Trusted TEFL Reviews is owned by teflonlinepro.com.
This baseless lie was first begun by Ian Patrick Leahy from the ESLinsider TEFL program – a program that was banned from Facebook because of its spreading of misinformation.
Other programs over the years have also been claimed to run Trusted TEFL Reviews.
These claims are the low-hanging fruit for the scam programs that resort to a smear campaign in the hope that they will deflect readers from believing the proven evidence against them and, instead, think that the scammers are the victims.
Trusted TEFL Reviews is an independently-run TEFL/TESOL reviews website, with absolutely no affiliation whatsoever to any of the TEFL/TESOL programs listed on trustedteflreviews.com.
Unlike other popular TEFL review websites, TEFL programs can’t manipulate their reviews on trustedteflreviews.com (no fake reviews allowed) and this causes some programs to lash out in retaliation when they receive poor (verified) customer feedback that we won’t delete; no matter how aggressive they become.
Please read this article because James Anthony Dwyer is currently on a damage control mission and he is using his many online aliases to convince people that his courses are reputable.
They are not.
He is a scam artist; perhaps the biggest scammer in the industry at present.
Again, here is that article – an article well worth the read to see how exactly a TEFL program scam works:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/11/14/itt-international-tefl-and-tesol-ltd/
TEFL Scams 15th May 2023 update:
Scams within the marketplace are, unfortunately on the increase in 2023.
The latest scam involves a program convincing potential TEFL students to not take a competitor’s course because it is claimed that it is a scam; instead to take their course (which really is a scam).
The worst Online TEFL/TESOL certification courses lack sufficient student support and lack international recognition, and they are notorious for launching smear campaigns on their business competitors – they can because they don’t have an official accreditation body to answer to.
They also try to reduce the credibility of trustedteflreviews.com by claiming that we are owned by (fill in the blank) program. This, of course, isn’t true, and the reason why they do this is that we are the only non-commercial TEFL reviews website in the marketplace and we call out programs for poor business practices.
What this means is that TEFL programs can’t just dump a load of positive reviews on us – as they do with other platforms – because we check the authenticity of each and every review.
The 5 Worst TEFL programs in 2023 all either pay their graduates to write reviews for them, or write reviews of their own courses. You can see this when you visit a TEFL reviews website and you see that a program has received between 5-10 5-Star reviews in one day. This is irregular and doesn’t reflect the statistics of authentic review submissions.
We have received complaints from a number of TEFL/TESOL programs – Fully Accredited programs – that have complained of being targeted online by these 5 Worst TEFL Courses 2023, with misinformation campaigns launched against them.
The 5 Worst TEFL Courses in 2023:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/10/12/worst-tefl-courses-2022/
TEFL scams are, unfortunately, on the rise.
To prevent you from becoming a victim of a TEFL scam, we recommend that you:
A. Choose a Fully Accredited TEFL/TESOL certification course provider.
B. Find out which TEFL programs are currently on the Scam Watch.
A. 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.
B. You can find out which companies are currently on the Scam Watch by taking a look at the TEFL Course Scams category:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/x-online-tefl-course-scams/
https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/x-online-tefl-course-scams/page/2/
TEFL Scams
The Cambridge Dictionary defines a scam as, ‘an illegal plan for making money, especially one that involves tricking people.’
Thankfully, scams are not as prevalent in the TEFL industry as you might initially think. There are, however, always a few bad apples in the basket and certain behavior that might not technically come under the umbrella definition of what a scam is can definitely be viewed as partaking in shady practices.
All published reviews on trustedteflreviews.com are verified so that you can make an informed choice as to which online TEFL course you feel best suits your teacher training needs.
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.
The most common scam is the accreditation scam – when a TEFL/TESOL/TESL course provider falsely tries to convince the world that they are a legitimate, accredited school.
The second most common scam is the affiliate marketing scam – when a third-party website owner, working for a TEFL program on a commission basis, hypes up a TEFL program and trashes their competitor(s).
Trusted TEFL Reviews recently added a ‘6 TEFL Red Flags | How To Spot Them’ article:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/03/30/6-tefl-red-flags/
In this article, we cover the most common methods of deceit that a minority of TEFL course programs have applied themselves vigorously.
With so many Online TEFL and TESOL certification courses to choose from, there will likely be some of you who are reading this who are feeling completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of programs to choose from – wondering which ones are legit and which ones are scams or less reputable.
If in doubt, refer to the TEFL Course Directory for guidance:
https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/
The best-rated schools in the directory are top-rated for a legitimate reason.
Happy TEFLing!
Mia Williams | Trusted TEFL Reviews | https://trustedteflreviews.com/
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