I have applied and received a contract from Kingston Mae school in Athens, Greece - I am not sure-is it a scam

Question

I am looking for position overseas. I received, what looks like a great contract from this school - it seems real, www.kingstonmae.com is the site - but there are misspellings in their emails and when I googled it, I found this --http://the-world-in-focus.com/blog/?p=7823 - under scams. The school seems real, but it came up under that scam. Has anyone heard of this school in Athens. I found the job posting for this on many Teaching English Overseas site. I would like to know of experiences of suggestions? Thanks...

Here is the address and phone number -
11 Trokouni Street,
Attica, 14552,
Athens, Greece.

Telephone:
[phone]

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks

This is the exact response received after I submitted an online "interview"
It just seems weird, the spelling and everything else.

Dear Edward,

Your application to Kingston Mae Internatioanl School Greece has been finally accepted,congratulations! ! !

Attached to this email is the Employment contract,you are kindly requested to study it carefully,if you agree to the terms and conditions of the contract,then print it out,fill in your name(s) at the appropriate spaces provided,sign and return it to the processing department of the school.Luis Pinto our finance director will be incharge of your Visa processing.Contact him through this email address:[e-mail]

He will immediately issue you a visa form obtained from the Greece Immigration.In summary every information you need to know about the processing of your travelling and working documents will be disclosed to you by the school's processing department.

Congratulations again! ! !

OK - I just got this email - I asked about insurance and my ticket - this is the response. Any feedback?

Copy of health incurance policy is not available presently,it will be included in the package to be sent through DHL after the processing,air ticket will be sent through courier,we cant decide the actual date of your flight right now,we need to submit your file to the immigration first,before deciding your arrival date.

Upon arrival at the airport,the school driver and a staff will come tio pick you up.

Stay in touch,

Luis


What do you think.

Last reponse - after I contacted the school asking about their legitimacy yesterday - this was the response...

Thank you for the inquiry.

I am the Director of the School,Dr.ALGELI MAKAREM,our school is quite
legit,whoever calls it a scam will have a lot of questions to answer in the
international court of Law.I am quite aware of all the procedures you have
undergone before we could offer you the job.However,if you are suspecting
that our school is illegal,or your mind does not accept the offer,please
withdraw,and try to notify us as soon as possible.

But if you are willing to continue with us,we will be glad to be with you.

Good Luck.

DR. ALGELI MAKAREM

I contacted some other schools in the area - and yes it is a scam and yep - too good to be true. They put a lot of work into that site though! I should have known with all the spelling errors. I tried calling yesterday and the number is no longer available - thanks for all of the help!

Answer 1

If it shows up as a scam, it more than likely is....... a legit educational institution would not send out emails with typos!!!! Bewareeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Pretty soon they will be asking for a credit card number. Do nottttttttttttttttttt send them money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any legitimate business or school should have an operational website and a real address. What do you think?

Answer 2

Hi Varmint. Well, people in greece are generally friendly and helpfull and athens is an exceptionally safe city (u can see even teenagers returning from bars and clubs in the morning hours alone using the subway, i do that sometimes too and i m a female myself), something unique for a 5-6 million people city, although it' s pretty intense and chaotic as well. It 's not a clean cut city for sure, but it is a very interesting one.Wether or not u will have a good time there is a matter of how easily u can adjust, for it certainly is another culture and another mentality. U won't have trouble with weird customs etc, the food and the water are clean everywhere, however the greeks have a mediterranenan temperament that u r propably not familiar with, that is warm, extroversive and yes, sometimes a little loud. Most people under 40 speak english well so u shouldn't have great trouble there. Greeks have a know how when it comes to enjoying life, like italian and french people do, something i haven't seen in germany, england or the states at all, and maybe u can gain something in this section. When u re in greece i recommend u take shorter or longer trips outside of athens, there is really plenty to see. There are a hundred great destinations for weekend trips around athens, both in summer and the winter time, beautifull mountains all over the country and ofcourse several island complexes. But u re going to discover all of this once u re there. Just be open. I wish u a great time!! PS. In case u re not a smoker, u should know that greeks smoke a lot. Thats one thing u r gonna have to get used to. Dont' complain too much about it in a company or in a restaurant (dont even think about complaining in a bar or cafeteria), u might be considered difficult, but ofcourse u can always ask someone to hold his cigarette the other side or ask the taxi driver etc NOT to smoke while he is at your service. PS.2. Experiencing Easter with greek company in the countryside should be really different (and better) from what u are used to.

Answer 3

I've not heard of it either, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist as there are many privately run schools in Athens.

I've looked on the website too and it does seem genuine, otherwise they've gone to a lot of bother for a scam - and a scam for what? Are they asking you to send them money?

Have they offered you a contract without interviewing you? That would make me suspicious, but it would be a shame to throw away a great opportunity like this.

Why don't you call them and ask to speak to one of the tutors they show on their staff pages. They must also be registered with the government, so that could be one other thing you could try.

Hope it works out for you and hopefully cpinatsi will be able to find it for you.

Answer 4

Forget the red flags. This "deal" reeks of a Nigerian 419 scam.

The school itself maybe legit, but the offer is not and in any case it's not originating from the school, if one such school existed to begin with. The scumbags would have asked you for money at some point–the classic advance fee fraud scam.

No self-respecting school uses yahoo email addresses, and of course, they do not send out letters with typos. The name of the contact is a common Nigerian name, too.

Answer 5

Before you sign anything, and especially before you send a single penny their way - do more homework.

If it is showing up as a scam, that's you biggest red flag right there. DON'T ignore that flag. Your next step is to research why they show up as a red flag. I used to work for a college that had 26 individual colleges around the world. Each country has its own licensing/accrediting system. You can contact the country's equivalent of the Department of Education and find out from them as well.

Good luck, and happy school hunting!

Answer 6

Their website doesn't seem to be working anymore. I googled "Kingston Mae International School Greece" and got some hits, but even those links aren't working properly.

Good luck. I hope you find out if this is a scam or not.

Answer 7

Well I googled the name of the street (Troukouni) in all the versions it could have in Greek and yet I couldn't find it. Plus, I checked a map book I had: I couldn't find a street that goes by that name there either. The book could be outdated since I bought it a few years ago but... well, my guess? Trokouni Street doesn't exist. That ought to tell you something.

Answer 8

I haven't heard of it, I am Greek, but there are many private or foreign schools I amy not know. The problem is I didn't even find it on the internet. What is their telephone and address in Athens? If you find that, I can go check rfor you on the spot to see if they are for real.

Answer 9

My fiance´and I have both just been accepted to this school as well! Will someone clarify whats going on?! I was so excited! Its perfect! It has to be real! They haven´t asked for anything! Except for passports and certificates! I hate to think what they are doing with that information!

Answer 10

I applied to the same school and received a contract...but it is too good to be true...I mean, I got that job so easily... Please let me know if you find anything new about this school.