Currently, more than 200,000 foreigners are working in China legally. With the increasing number of foreign visitors, many fraudulent agencies have started to target foreigners for identity theft. They sell the stolen information to criminals, and many foreigners fall victim to their tricks.
Two years ago, Davis from Canada used an agent from China to help him find a teaching job in Beijing and secure a work visa. Instead of finding his dream job, his identity and credit card information were stolen, and the thief ran up a bill of over $7,000 on his card.
How Did the Scam Happen?
I had just come to China at that time. I didn't know anyone, and I didn't understand a word of Chinese, so I found an agent online to help me to find work and get a proper Z visa, Davis said. I came to China on a business visa, and I was trying to find a job and get a Z visa.
Davis sent his resume to several agencies for teaching positions. A woman, who called herself Tiffany Tang and said she was from a company called East-West Education, contacted him.
Tang said she had a good position teaching English at an international school for him. After Several rounds of interviews, Tiffany said that Davis is the right person for the job and he could start work in about two weeks after he emailed her the papers she needed to start entry formalities.
Davis emailed her his passport scans, a copy of his diplomas and taxpayer ID number according to her request. However, Tiffany kept postponing his start date. Then, a month later, she called saying that the home office filled the position, but she would keep his resume on file in case of an opening.
However, four months later things started to go off the rails. When a bank in the US called, saying that he owed over $7,000 on his credit card and that his credit rating will be lowered if he doesn't pay it back, Davis called the local Chinese police at once!
After the investigation, the police said Tiffany stole his personal information. But Davis still ended up spending $5,000 in legal fees to unfreeze his account and restore his credit rating.
How to Spot Fake Agents?
❶ ID thieves in China are posing as various headhunters, HR managers, and ESL School recruiters. After they steal a foreigner's information, they tend to sell it to criminals for things such as credit card fraud, IRS tax refund fraud and automobile financing fraud.
❷ The swindlers often have something in common. For example, all the employees use English names like David Liu, which are virtually untraceable.
❸ Their website is often less than a year old, or they don't have one at all. If they have a website, it will have no verifiable office address, no landline telephone number, and use free email addresses.
❹ They also do not have a color scan copy of their legal Chinese Business License, which can be verified online.
Common Scams
01
Swindlers often request copies of foreigners' passports and taxpayer ID (SSN) before giving them any written job offer or contract. They often claim that there is someone else with the same name as the job seeker in their computer system and that they need his or her personal information to clarify the matter with the Chinese visa bureau.
02
They tell you that you don't need a Z visa right away and to just come to China on an L, F, or M visa, and they offer to sell you a fake diploma, a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate, or a Foreign Expert Certificate (FEC).
03
They will also tell you that you must use a visa agent because the application process is very complicated and confusing, and all the forms are in Chinese, which is not true. Also, they will tell you that you must give your passport to your Chinese employer for a 3-6 months probationary period, which is also not true.
04
Other tricks include making foreigners fill out their visa application in Chinese so that they cannot understand if they are being lied to or not, never giving email confirmations only verbal promises, pushing job seekers to sign a contract in a short time frame, and asking for money up front or a deposit of any kind.
Tips From the Lawyer
● The key is not to give anyone crucial information such as passport and taxpayer numbers until you have been issued a valid contract!
● Job hunters should also check the agency information and that of the company that contacted them to see if they are on any scam blacklist.
Source: globaltimes
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