Thanks for sharing Molly. I received the same offer and went through the same "interview" process with the individual Franceso Lotto. In my case, "the school" referred me to a "legal office" with details of an attorney to provide visa assistance. It was at this point that I received a request to send money for the visa application fee to a cashier by the name of Promise Moses. The email they listed for this legal office was interno.gov@representative.com although it appears as visas@interno.gov.it. They are not just posing as the school, but as the Ministero dell'Interno as part of this scam.
Thanks for sharing Molly. I received exactly the same offer and had a feeling that something wasn't quite right about it right from the beginning. The same technical issue happened during my Skype interview and the interview was wrapped up in less than 3 minutes. They had also sent the details of the attorney to be contacted for visa assistance.
The school has now posted a warning message along with a snapshot of the fake contract on their website to let everybody about the scam. Also, the director is a female - Mrs. Dawn Kerry Reynolds. She said they have informed the police about it.
Thanks
Akhilesh
Just an update! The REAL director of the school, Mr. Dawn Kerry Reynolds contacted me from info@unionjackschool.it to let me know that those who were contacting me are, in fact, involved in a scam. They are emailing from unionjackschools@gmail.com, but the name associated comes up as the info@unionjackschool.it email, making it tricky to realize you are not communicating with the actual email address. Make sure you the email itself is info@unionjackschool.it. Mr. Reynolds let me know that they have reported this scam to the police, but the best thing to do is spread the word and make sure no one else falls for this scam. He said that they may have the names incorrect ( they may use Mr. Dawn and Ms. Kerry Reynolds instead of Mr. Dawn Kerry Reynolds) and they request money to be sent through Western Union to pay for a flight. If you are ever to work with a school that says they cover travel expenses, it typically means a reimbursement. DO NOT SEND MONEY.
Also, the person who "interviewed" me said his name is Francesco Lotto.
Side note/ PSA: I have heard from many places, including my teacher trainers during CELTA, that real schools should NEVER ask you to send them money. Even if you are not a victim of this particular scam, be very weary if a school ever asks you to send money. This is not right and you should definitely NOT send them money.
So to summarize, Union Jack School is a real school in Naples. However, there is someone impersonating them with the email unionjackschools@gmail.com and they may request money to be sent to them via Western Union. This is definitely a scam.
I hope this helps! Thank you to the person who saw this and let Mr. Reynolds know so he could reach out to me.
I've actually seen this too!! I thought it was super fishy too. They have this flimsy website and a Facebook page that is bare bones. So it all stinks to me! If anyone knows anything, I'd like to know too!
Hey all!
I have been in communication with Union Jack Schools in Naples and received an offer. But something definitely seems fishy and too good to be true.
They emailed me to set up an interview via skype. However, the interviewer's audio wasn't working at the same time as video and he had the interview me with just the audio (which I understood since skype can be fussy sometimes). However, he was not a very good English speaker, asked extremely general questions, it was clear he had not looked at any of my paperwork before and the interview last 4 MINUTES AND 19 SECONDS. I thought that was quite strange. Then he told me that they just wanted to test my level of English and that they will review my paperwork (though they had already had it over a week) and get back to me. I figured there would be another interview but then they sent me a contract for employment. I thought this was weird since they only spoke to me for 4 minutes. I didn't even have a chance to ask any questions about the school. I emailed asking to speak with someone over skype in order to ask questions, and they said they would get back to me. I waited three days and followed up, only to get a response that the director is currently in Spain and would rather I just email my questions. Another red flag. How can there not be anyone in the school to speak with me?
FINALLY. The contract is for 2500 net euro a month (a great salary), plus free accommodation, visa assistance, travel reimbursement (which is a lot since I am in the US), health insurance, and an extra 500 a month for food expenses. This is just way too good to be true. Also, the contract does not even have a start date listed. There is a blank space where the start date should be and my name is nowhere on the contract.
I want to know if anyone has come across this school before. They haven't asked me for any money, I just think there has to be a catch somehow. I can't find any information about the school except on their website and other job postings. Their website also has a "view count" on it which never changes and seems quite dated.
Any response would be much appreciated (I'm definitely not going to sign anything until I know that this is a legitimate school and offer)
Thanks!
Molly