Last month alone in China, 229 foreign teachers were arrested for not having a work visa (Z Visa) in their passports, or not having a real diploma from an accreditted university. You can read the story at http://www.chinaforeignteachersunion.com/2016/11/229-china-foreign-teach...
Our information is the PSB officers (Public Security Bureau) made "deals" with those arrested to copy their phone data and "reccommend" at least 5 of their friends to be contacted by an undercover PSB agent who set up a fake "ESL recruitment agencies" in Beijing and Shanghai under various fake names including those below. Those who "cooperated" did not have to go to jail but paid a $5,000 fine.
China Teachers
China TEFL Jobs
China ESL Center
China ESL
China Golden Bridge ESL
New World ESL
(THEY ADD NEW NAMES EVERY WEEK)
Those contacted would be offered great paying jobs that are much better than average. But the ads they place on line do not give any names. They will only say something like
"ESL Teacher Needed in Beijing 20,000 per month + apartment"
These fake job ads are advertised in these locations;
thebeijinger.cpm
eslcafe.com
echinacities.com
sinocities.com
craigslist.com
gumtree.com
twitter
facebook
When you go in for the interview they arrange for you, (ususally at a hotel or a public high school), it will be a real interview and then you are congratulated and offered a job. If you accept, they ask to see your passport and diploma. If there is no Z visa (work visa) in your passport you are arrested and jailed when you exit the building. You will sit in a van until they get 5-6 victims and then locked up for 30 days. If you do not have the $2,000 fine they will keep you detained until someone pays that fine. Then you are deported as a convicted felon, and not allowed to return to China for 3 to 5 years (at their discretion)
The point is this, only three years ago it was easy to evade detection working without the Z visa and diploma. Maybe you had a 5% chance of getting caught. But now that the PSB officers are being paid a 2,000 yuan bonus for every illegal foreigner they bust, they have become truly motivated and aggressive. You now have a 50% chance of detection.
Now it is your choice to follow the advice of an unlicensed Chinese or foreign recruiter or follow the rule of law. Its your choice. In closing also be extra careful that your resume does not fall in the hands of an identity thief. This is much easier than you may realize as explained here: http://chinascamwatch.wordpress.com
NOTE: You also need to know that co-workers and even other teachers in the China TEFL community are being recruited to snitch on foreigners as explained below;
https://www.reddit.com/r/Sino/comments/5e8si5/foreign_esl_tefl_english_t...
and also https://eslwatch.info/forum/china/76-china-foreign-teachers-unite-report...
China is a fun adventure full of memorable moments that will last a lifetime. But one bad experience can make your life in a foreign land miserable. If you want to make yourself scam-proof in China, try this here: https://www.scam.com/entry.php?5521-How-...nst-job-frauds
