Monday 1 April 2013

Scam Alert - Craig Hill & China Daily Mail Are Fraud Fronts

Hello All, 

     I am writing this "unusual" blog only to warn you about someone I have known for over 12 years in Australia and 2 years here in China. In fact, he was the one who persuaded me to come to China to teach. He claims to be a "corporate trainer" and an "Editor" (of his own blog called the China Daily Mail) but here is the truth, and why he is not to be trusted nor believed...

     In reality, Craig is a former prison guard from down under and if you ask him why he lost that job he will change the subject.  If you ask what qualifies him to be a "corporate trainer" he will show you a phony resume that does not mention he was a prison guard or a citizen who had "problems" with the authorities in Brisbane and Sydney - in fact the true reason why he came to China.  In Australia he used different names including Craig Hillier, Kenneth Craig Hill, Ken Hill, Craig Hill, and Greg Hill. Here in China he became "Craig Hill" and for all I know he uses other names as well.

     As the self-proclaimed editor of China Daily Mail he cuts and pastes dozens of articles from Xinhua, Asia News Service, Reuters, Bloomberg, etc. and publishes them under his own name after adding only one or two sentences and changing less than a dozen words in a 500 word news brief. In most countries this is called Plagiarism  But in China we all know it is called "normal"

     Before I explain why I am turning against my former friend and exposing his deceitful ways, you should also know that he goes by the names of "Traveler" at EChinaCities.com and as "Chaofan" at thebeijinger.com (two forums in China).

     If you read his blog and take screen capture prints as I did, you will see that he also talks about "doing business" with "Mona" and a few other people.  What kind of business? Well Craig had an affair in the past with a woman known as Rebecca Tang who is the owner of the infamous China ESL agency which has a horrible reputation for exploiting foreign teachers in China.  You can Google "Rebecca Tang, scam, Beijing, China ESL" and read the horror stories for yourself or you can click on these links for a quick overview and see her signature on a contract that take 66% of a teacher's salary and her own written post, admits that she charges money for invitation and release letters (a blatant violation of China law)

http://www.thebeijinger.com/forum/2013/01/31/beware-chinaesl-scam-alert-rebecca-tang-will-rip-you

http://www.tefl.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5784

http://www.thebeijinger.com/node/1592803

     Even though Craig and Rebecca broke up they remain friends that f*ck and they do business together. Craig posts ads for her and collects 1,000 yuan for every foreign teacher he refers to her.  But he plays a far more important role for Rebecca at Echina Cities, Beijinger, and most recently at his own China Daily Mail... He deletes, blocks, or attacks anyone who tries to expose China ESL and his source of extra income.  Just read what "Chaofan" has to say about Rebecca at the Beijinger and how even after the 66% fee was exposed, he continued to defend her!  At Echinacities.com he just blocked and then deleted posts about China ESL made by 12 different people and recently another poster named "Shining Brow" even asked him directly if he had a "vendetta" against the China Foreign Teachers Union at this link:  http://answers.echinacities.com/node/126507


"Odd Traveller - you seem to have a vendetta against them, just as you've said they have a vendetta against the Beijing agent.


I've been over their website before it was brought to my attention through here, and the claims made at Chinadailymail don't add up!


To add to the comments made on that link, I'll say that there is nothing indicating 'guanxi' was used on that Chinese headmaster... in fact, I read it as straight out threats. A very different take on it. It may also (though, obviously, this is just me making a jump in logic) that while the threat paid off, said headmaster was able to pull a string and have the visa's influenced.


I'm still not seeing the dark and evil forces at work that you seem to. (btw, yes, the article did report inaccurately... so why shouldn't they 'attack' - or, in reality, point out the crap that was written about it)"

     The "article" Shining brow refers to is one that Craig concocted to smear the China Foreign Teachers Union at his Daily Mail site.  But here is where it gets really down dirty and foul...

7 people responded to defend the China Foreign Teachers Union at Craig's own China Daily Mail where he falsely claimed that the CFTU:

*  Charges membership fees
*  Collects money (from unspecified sources)
*  Scammed people (unnamed people)
*  Tell people not to use lawyers (100% false)
*  Its directors were deported (their visas were simply not renewed - nobody was "deported")

     The seven posters included user names "Daniel", "G.Wilson", "Kevin", "Cricket", "Volunteer039", "Tina", and "Katherine", the last of whom was the girl who rang the alarm at thebeijinger.com in the above link about China ESL and Rebecca Tang.

But AFTER these 7 posters shot down his claims that the CFTU was a sham, and AFTER Shining Brow challenged him at ECC and AFTER he lost his arguments at the Beijinger, Craig merely put on his "Editors" hat and reworded the posts of the 7 people at the China Daily Mail to support his OP!!!!!  How do I know?  Because I am "Cricket" and what appears on his CDM blog today is not at all what I posted!  I complained to Craig and he told me "Mind your own business and stay out of this" and he was truly pissed that I could actually disagree with him about something in this world!

     So I then complained to another party that Craig had boasted he blocked at ECC - The China Scam Patrol...

     They said they would check it out and I later find out that Craig had the balls to do it to them as well!  They said they recovered screen shot prints from cache and will publish what was originally posted.  I did manage to get a PM to and from G.Wilson (one of the other posters who had his post "revised" by Craig. He can be contacted directly at  G. Wilson and he will gladly confirm that what appears at Craig's CDM blog is NOT what he posted.  We are in the process of contacting the five other posters as well and will follow up with a second post soon.  BTW... Here is what I really posted at China Daily Mail before Craig butchered it for his own convenience:

"Nobody that I can see has yet claimed to be cheated of anything. What exactly is the scam? Also, right on the homepage of the CFTU  it says "Membership is free".  Why are you fabricating all this shit about the CFTU Craig?  How much is Rebecca paying you this time?"

     Anyone who wants to communicate with me can do so at:  Cricket  I really don't know what China Scam Patrol posted but I am sure if anyone contacts them at admin@ChinaScamPatrol.org it is probably much different than what Craig put up on his blog!  Here is one of many ECC posts where Moderator Craig (Traveler) banned posters and locked the link to protect his friend and former lover Rebecca http://answers.echinacities.com/node/115523

     As you can see, being your own "editor" and moderator has its perks! What is truly evil is that he hides as "Traveler" to put up a slander post referring to an article at the China Daily Mail that he himself wrote and then edited five times to cover his tracks and plug the holes that everyone was poking in his "story".


Prison Guard Craig Hill Thinks "Editing" Equals Censorship!

(This is prison guard Craig in the background photo and above. When he landed in China he magically transformed into a "corporate trainer" and "editor"  Anyone who wants more photos of Craig can send me an email)
UPDATE - April 6th, 2013: A CFTU member contacted us today to say she attempted to defend the CFTU at both the China Daily Mail blog and at EChinaCities.com and her post was not accepted at either forum.  We invited her to post here and she said she would. (Remember, Craig Hill is a moderator at ECC who uses the name "Traveler").

SIGNIFICANT  UPDATE - May 5th, 2013:

As "Kenneth Craig Hill" Craig Hill was official found by a Queensland Court in Australia "to suffer from disabling mental disorders" and he even admitted it  in his bid to collect on a fraudulent worker's compensation claim. Details can be found below and by Googling "Kenneth Craig Hill, QLD".  So either Craig really is mentally disturbed, or his first scam attempt was against the government of Australia.  Read below...



 

















































31 comments:

Anonymous said...

First my name is George Lewis and I can be contacted at the email I gave to "Cricket". I hereby confirm that what is posted under my name at China Daily Mail as user "G. Wilson" is NOT exactly what I posted at all. Someone has surely altered what I posted originally as follows:

There is something wrong about this story. The pieces of this puzzle just don't fit. Why would Chinese expose Chinese scams? This writer seems quite fishy to me for five reasons…

Reason 1: His article states “On further investigation, the CFTU is revealed to be a commercial operation to recover unpaid money from schools and agents. "For a fee, of course". "There also appears to be a paid membership scheme in place.” What and whose investigation is he referring to? It clearly states on the CFTU homepage that CFTU membership is “Free”, and when I inquired about membership by email about 3 weeks ago, I was also told the same thing.

Reason 2: I just spent an hour looking at 26 posts that make up the CFTU web site and I see not one place where anything is being sold, endorsed, or even promoted. Most scams I know of want money for something! At least if they were peddling religion or some poltical agenda, I might buy into the OP.

Reason 3: I cannot fathom any reason a Chinese person would do this as the CFTU web site strongly advises against sending anyone but real direct employers visa and passport scans. They do not ask for anything from people from what I can see.

Reason 4: Judging by the amount of scam operators they outed on their website (even with photographs) and how they petitioned the ministry of justice to go after the biggest/greediest fraudsetr agent in China (China ESL), my guess is there are quite a few pissed off people that have an ax to grind with the CFTU right now. Would those angry people resort to creating fictitious people to go on a vengeful smear campaign? Probably – if they are losing money after being exposed by the CFTU.

Reason 5: The biggest reason I smell a rat with this is because I only learned about the CFTU because my gf left her teaching job at a Chinese kindergarten in Dongzhimen about a year ago, and the assholes didn’t pay her last check and even wanted her to pay 5,000 renminbi for a release letter! One of our neighbors took her to a CFTU meeting at a UBC coffee shop in Chaoyang. Even though she was not a member they helped her with some phone calls and sent a guy named “Mel” to visit the sleazey principal. We don’t know what he said or did but my gal got her 8,500 and her release letter two days later and nobody from the CFTU ever asked her for anything. Although I did not go to that meeting my gf said there were about 2 dozen foreigners there – not one Chinese.

Whether you believe reason 5 or not makes no difference, because reasons 1 through 4 are enough to raise the eyebrows of most intelligent people in this world. So until a real victim of some real scam steps forward with verifiable proof, I think this CFTU group is long overdue and they get my support until they do something to lose it.

Frankie said...

well I guess this explains why the CFTU has no posts in its own defense at the China Daily Mail - this guy Craig probably is not allowing the posts to go up online. His site is a Word Press site and it is obvious he "moderating" (censoring) everything coming in.

Tina said...

I also posted a few lines criticizing the China Daily Mail for making stuff up about the CFTU but the dude censored me big time! This is what I had posted under my own name (Tina) after I read what the guy Kevin had written in his two posts. Both of his posts I now see have also been messed with as well. Here is what I posted and was talking to the author not Kevin!

Dude you are loon, and apparently can’t read either! You told us 5 times that “unions are not legal in China” but you ignored every single question Kevin asked you! Are you brain dead or just don’t have the balls to admit you made a mistake? You fricking lied dude – admit it!

BTW… corruption and cheating foreigners is also not legal in China pal. Why aren’t you writing about that?

Honestly dude, you have zero credibility with me. How the hell do you look yourself in the mirror every day?

Kevin Hocking said...

My name is Kevin Hocking and I have been communicating with another poster who told me that my comments at The China Daily Mail were drastically changed to mean the exact opposite of what I had wrote. At first I thought that was crazy - impossible even.

But when I checked I was shocked to see that she was right! Then I wondered how something that was posted on a blog one day could be changed two days later so I wrote an email to support at word press and the reply I got was

"The site moderator or editor would be the only party able to edit posts made on a word press site"

Anyway, I had made two posts at the China Daily Mail and BOTH of them were changed. Keep in mind that I wrote my posts after I checked the internet cache for the CFTU website (www.ChinaForeignTeachersUnion.org)and realized that the author was outright lying in his OP and his comments about the CFTU editing their site. My original first comment was as follows and because I have to go to work, I will dig out and repost my second comment when I get home. I am furious at what this asshole is doing and can't believe that he thinks he will get away with this.

"Well Craig, it seems you reuffled some feathers here and I can understand why. I actually have been using the CFTU website for almost 3 months, mostly for the blaclist, and I can confirm that they charge no fees of any kind - just like their web site says. Where are you getting your information please? Can you give us your source and links? Otherwise it appears that you are pulling this information out of your ass.

You profess to be an "editor" but the only thing you edit are your own personal blogs sir.

BTW… If you were a real “editor” of a real publication, like the one I used to work for (San Francisco Chronicle) you would have been fired long ago for being so irresponsible to write articles based on your own personal opinions with no factual data to support them.

And instead of answering the questions people have asked you, you ignore them and keep spewing more assumptions. What are your FACTS - not opinions. If you accuse people you will not be taken seriously without facts.

So far, five people have disagreed with you or challenged you to identify a single victim and your response is just to say they are all the same people. What BS!

Stop dancing around the questions and answer them already. When and where has the CFTU ever charged a membership fee? What moneys have they collected? Please document your allegations or stick them back up your ass where you pulled them from!

You assume that everyone who disagrees with you must be the same person. Do you also assume that you have a monopoly on smarts Craig?

Where are the emails you said you received? Please publish them here with the headers so we know they are real. Or did you conveniently delete them? Until you do so, I think you are fabricating this story for some reason. Are you a moonlighting recruiter that was exposed by the CFTU or ?????
What is the real story that you are not telling us?

Posted by Kevin | March 27, 2013, 8:58 am

Anonymous said...

I think maybe this link explains more about Craig Hill and his partner in crime...

http://eslwatch.info/china-2/bad-recruiters-review-in-china/7150-webb-international

Unknown said...

Sorry, having my second attempt at commenting here...not good with computer stuff.

I'm Katherine; a former victim of Rebecca Tang and a strong supporter of China Foreign Teachers Union. I was bullied, harassed and accused of lying by user Chaofan on the Beijinger, and have experienced Craig Hill editing, manipulating and blocking my posts in support of CFTU and exposing the crimes of Tang. Here's a post that was omitted:

"Woooaaahhh somebody edited my comment! I support the CFTU! “The more information about CFTU’s antics out there…” I didn’t write that! My original post read “The more information we have about people like Rebecca Tang, the better chance…” From now on if people have questions about my experience, email me personally here:ktcoxster@gmail.com…I will be back to check this comment tomorrow, so it better be here…printing screen now!

0 0 Rate This
POSTED BY KATHERINE | MARCH 31, 2013, 12:33 PM
REPLY TO THIS COMMENT

Your comment is awaiting moderation.
POSTED BY KATHERINE | APRIL 1, 2013, 3:14 AM
REPLY TO THIS COMMENT"

You can read about my story at http://chinablog-kt.livejournal.com

Kitty Kat said...

I guess China Daily Mail is a classic textbook example of “conflict of interest”. I met Craig Hill three years ago with his gf Rebecca. But it was never explained what she did other than she was visiting Shanghai. They seemed like a nice couple to me. What I remember most about that brief meeting at the Shanghai Expat Job Fair was that Rebecca was working the crowd like a pro hustling everyone for their business card. Now I suppose I know why.
http://www.eslwatch.info/china-2/bad-recruiters-review-in-china/5450-chinaesl-a-scam-bad-for-schools-and-teachers
Kitty_Kat

CFTU said...

My name is Greg and I am one of the co-administrators at the CFTU. For the record I want to say that I tried posting the below comments at The China Daily Mail and ECC but was blocked from doing so. I received no explanation as to why we were blocked.

Further, I want to confirm that I checked our email logs for the last 90 days at the CFTU website and we never received any email inquiries from any Craig Hill or the China Daily Mail.

More importantly I want to advise anyone and every foreign teacher in China of the following facts that have been posted on our website for over six months and there have been zero deletions (edits) as erroneously claimed by the China Daily Mail author Craig Hill:

• The CFTU has never charged anyone a membership fee in our 3 year history

• The CFTU has never advised anyone not to avoid lawyers – only agents & recruiters

• The CFTU does not “collect money” for anyone – not in the past, not now, and not in the future.

• The CFTU does not recruit nor refer teachers to any school nor training center.

• The CFTU is 100% staffed by volunteers – always.

• The CFTU does not allow people to peddle any religion at our meetings or activities

• The CFTU does not sell any product, service, or advertisement nor make any endorsements.

• All of the below are provided for free to our members:

a) Free copy of China Labor Laws
b) Free agent /Recruit disclosure forms
c) Free Chinese lessons
d) Free Annual China Teachers Survey Report
e) Free contract samples
f) Free contract review
g) Free dispute arbitration
h) Free monthly school blacklist & whitelist updates
i) Free cross-cultural communication workshops
j) Free VPN software

All of the above information is, and has been readily available on our web site since October of 2012. We are therefore shocked that anyone could suggest differently.

Why the China Daily Mail would make such blatant false claims is open for debate but we will reserve our theory until after we collect some more information from sources that have given us some tips. We therefore will not comment further at this time.

The public is welcome to visit our website at www.ChinaForeignTeachersUnion.org.

Ferguson said...

Damn - what a soap opera we have going on here! For those of you who don’t know Australian fugitive Craig Hill, here is his photo I took of him at Ho Hai last year…

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Head-Up_Ass.png

Craig said...

Fuck you people! You can't prove shit and nobody will believe anyone who doesn't identify themselves. My blog has over 500 posts and my photo and my name. What I did for a living in the past means nothing and those old charges were dismissed in 2009! So get a life!

Kevin Hocking said...

This is Kevin Hocking again, and here is the second post that I had posted at the China Daily Mail BEFORE the "editor" rearranged my words...

"Craig you are very “clever” with words (in the Chinese context). Where did I ever say I was an “editor/”. I didn’t – you did. Where id I ever say I couldn’t find a job? – You did.

I said I once worked for the San Francisco Chronicle and never stated in what position. I said I visited the the CFTU website for the last 3 months mostly to check the blacklist – I never said I was looking for a job.

And it appears that you did not even bother to visit te CFTU website because right on the homepage it clearly says (at least for the last three months that I have been been visiting the site) “Membership in the CFTU is free”. But you claim there is a fee. Why do you deliberately post false information

Furthermore real editors publish “correction notices” when their readers point out blatant errors just like the ones you published. Instead of being a decent person and admit what you printed was erroneous your opinion or as you yourself said "my guess", you feed us redd herrings to divert our attention from the questions me and others asked you two times but you keep avoiding:

Until you actually answer questions and publish the invisible emails you have received from the CFTU with headers revealed, I, and most others with half a brain, will look upon you as a fellow who twists words and fabricates and your only defense is that you were smart enough to use the word “could” in your article instead of the word “is”.so nobody would sue you and we will sue you and foreigners should be careful.

Personally I would never join any union in China (legal or otherwise) since it might cause some repercussions. I applaud the CFTU for having the balls to expose all the corruption, collusion, and scams that they have. You will also surely twist these words I am sure.

Hopefully, one day your “reporting” will be based on facts and not your personal assumptions Craig."

Posted by Kevin | March 28, 2013, 7:29 am

Craig Hill is surely on some mission to smear the CFTU and someone is paying him to do this. Who? I really don't know. I believe the CFTU is making some contribution to help foreign teachers but they are facing overwhelming odds of hundreds of scam agents who want them to die or be deported I'm sure.

Anonymous said...

Since Craig is a moderator at Echinacities.com maybe this is our missing link? I'm not accusing - just floating a balloon here.

http://www.tefl.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5805#p13712

I went to a CFTU meeting about 7 months ago but I really did not feel comfortable joing up after I learned that 2 of their 3 foreign founders did not get their visas renewed in 2011 even though both had been teaching in China for over five years.

One thing that Hill says is true, labor unions are not legal in China, but then again, neither is selling invitation and release letters! But I did not see any Chinese peope at the CFTU meeting except the girlfriend of one of the expat teachers. Maybe there were 30 people present in all and they were talking about some crooked principals - I can't remember which.

I am surprised to see just how easy it is to smear good people on the internet when you own and edit your own blog. Mr. Hill is really a piece of work.

China Scam Patrol said...

As the administrator for ChinaScamPatrol.org, I want to hereby emphatically, and unequivocally say that we have never posted any comments at the ChinaDailyMail.com blog site about any matter - including the CFTU.

Four days ago we were contacted by an angry teacher asking us why were were "bashingthe CFTU at China Daily Mail?" When we visited the site and saw that someone had posted false comments using our name, I immediately sent an email to the "Editor" of that blog Mr. Craig Hill who has not yet replied. We therefore had no choice but to publish our own announcements at this link:

http://chinascampatrol.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/is-the-china-daily-post-and-editor-craig-hill-a-shill-scam/

Pito said...

This is the text less the photos of what China Scam Patrol posted at their blog yesterday: (Part One)

This is a loooong and complex story so strap in folks and prepare for turbulence. About two weeks ago we began receiving emails from mostly expat teachers in China, along with a few recruiters asking us if we had complaints on file against the China Foreign Teachers Union (CFTU). Normally we don’t get more than 3 – 5 inquiries a day about the same scam so we knew something was going down with te CFTU. We checked our files and found that we did in fact have two complaints on file about the CFTU and one of them was from 2011 about a Chinese teacher who claimed he was being discriminated against because he wasn’t accepted as a CFTU member. The other complaint was in May of 2012 from someone that turned out to be an employment agent masquerading as a teacher – apparently trying to discredit the CFTU.

Then two strange things happened, we received an email from one of our sources asking why we were bashing the CFTU. We had no idea what he was talking about so he sent us this link http://chinadailymail.com/2013/03/25/china-foreign-teachers-union-could-be-another-chinese-scam/
and we were absolutely shocked to see that someone was posting comments under our name! The comments posted at this web site were not made by us and it is not our business nor custom to make posts like that. We have since sent an email to Mr. Craig hill the “editor” of the China Daily Mail to remove those comments or at least publish notice that they are not comments that came from China Scam Patrol. We are awaiting his confirmation.

As for the China Foreign Teachers Union, the only complaints we received are those cited above, and considering the many fake agents, corrupt principals and ID thieves they have exposed on the past and on their website, it is understandable to us that they have created many enemies in China. In the past we had cooperated with the CFTU regarding the case of David Wu and other unregistered agents that were targeting foreign teachers for scams and from time to time they feed us tips of new names being used by scam agents that were exposed under names they previously used. We are not aware of any scam being run by the CFTU or any of its members, and would investigate any related information of such a fraud. Any tips can be submitted in confidence to tips{at}ChinaScamPatrol.org



We have reason to believe that the author/editor of The China Daily Mail may have some hidden agenda of his own and we have opened an investigation accordingly. Neither the China Scam Patrol nor our staff have had any previous dealing with Mr. Hill nor the China Daily Mail. We found this photo and link about him and have learned that he was a prison guard in Australia before coming to China. We have also received credible information that he has used alias names in the past and this raises some red flags for us especially since he took the liberty of using our name to post false statements about the CFTU. One informant has suggested that Mr. Hill is/was business partners with a certain Chinese ESL Teacher Recruiter and has a criminal record in Australia. We cannot accept this as fact just yet, but we are following up on the information. Again, if anyone has any information about Mr. Hill or The China Daily Mail, we ask that you forward it to us in confidence.

There is a possibility that a hacker is at play in this matter, but so far Mr. Hill has not denied posting the erroneous statements on his blog about us. The comments made by other posters at the following link http://craighillchinadailymail.blogspot.ca/ mirror two emails we received as follows:

From Jerry_D@______.net: “I have been a CFTU member since 2011 and I tried to post an argument at the The China Daily Mail blog in defense of the CFTU but my post was rejected without any explanation”

Pito said...

China Scam Patrol Post - Part Two:

"From: Whisper@______.com: Something very strange is going on here and I ask that you investigate the ChinaDailyMail.com. I asked the author (Mr. Hill) to explain where and how he knew the accusations he was making, but my post was deleted the next day. Maybe about 8 months ago I sent an email to the CFTU asking about membership and they told me there was no charge for membership but that I would be required to do some volunteer work. I checked their website yesterday and see that membership is still free along with most other things they offer teachers in China. So why is this guy Hill saying there are fees? Can you please investigate and let me know the truth? Thank you.”

China Scam Patrol attempted to post this post you are now reading today at the ChinaDailyMail.com website and it was not accepted for posting. We have also discovered that we have been blocked from posting at Echinacities.com where we have learned that Craig Hill is one of the moderators in the “Answers” section.

China Scam Patrol also made a formal inquiry to the CFTU and the response we received from one of the CFTU’s co-administrators Greg F***** says in part:

“For the record the CFTU wishes to emphatically state that:

* We have never charged any membership fees since our inception
* We do not collect any monies or fees from anyone
* The CFTU does not sell any product, service nor accepts advertisments
* The CFTU web site has made no deletions of any sort and the only edits have been additions
* The CFTU has had no past or present dealings with Mr. Craig Hill nor The China Daily Mail
* The CFTU was recently blocked from defending itself at both the China Daily Mail and Echinacities.com where our posts were deleted without any explanation”

We have received information from an employee at China ESL that “Mr. Hill is being paid a lot of money by my boss to attack and smear the CFTU” This China ESL reference may have something to do with the very negative posts about China ESL at thebeijinger.com and elsewhere.

http://www.thebeijinger.com/node/1592803 and http://www.thebeijinger.com/forum/2013/01/31/beware-chinaesl-scam-alert-rebecca-tang-will-rip-you


Another one of our regular blog visitors “Patrick” sent us the following links which may also have some relation to this matter: http://www.tefl.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=5805 and he said that posts made by user “Shining_Brow” at Echinacities.com were deleted at this link: http://answers.echinacities.com/node/126507. Patrick admitted that he was a user named “Pegasus” at Echinacities.com and that he was banned after making this post: http://answers.echinacities.com/node/115523

If the CFTU’s reference to China ESL does have something to with Mr. Hill (a real possibility), then this link may also help explain why this China Daily Mail blog suddenly pounced upon the CFTU out of the blue: http://eslwatch.info/china-2/bad-recruiters-review-in-china/7150-webb-international

It is a sad day when foreigners in China have to edit and censor opposing points of view – just like the Chinese government has been doing for years. If Mr. Hill is going to ban our comments and arguments at his blog as well as Echinacities.com, then he should at least tell readers there why they see no rebuttals from those he accuses and falsifies statements.

Mr. Hill does speak the truth when he says (many times) that China’s government does not allow nor embrace labor unions. However, we believe that if Mr. Hill is going to falsify posts made by China Scam Patrol and accuse the CFTU of charging monies he should explain himself fully. We will surely get to the bottom this fiasco one way or another. Stay tuned and we will post updates as they develop. Hopefully with the help of our readers we will find the party(ies) pulling the strings of Mr. Hill and his China Daily Mail. For now all we know is that Mr. Hill is a man who refuses to answer questions, and one who resorts to fabricating posts to cover his ass."

Darlene said...

I am not ashamed to admit that I am a CFTU member for almost 18 months. I am not speaking for them here. I am speaking only for myself as a teacher in China for almost 4 years.

I joined after I was screwed over by both a dishonest agent and a school principal that regularly cheats teachers through this agent (Jeff Gao)who I later found on many blacklists. This article explains the scam they used on me: http://www.zimbio.com/Beijing+China/articles/RfZYIh2CBIu/Recruiters+Conspire+Chinese+School+Principals

Anyway, three days ago I saw the China Daily Mail blog and tried to explain how the CFTU helped me to get my last pay check and release letter. My comment was refused for reasons unknown even though I gave very specific information about times, dates, and places. I was really pissed because I spent almost an hour to write my story out.

One of my teaching pals then told me that the same guy who wrote the China Daily Mail article started a discussion thread as user "Traveler" at echinacities.com so I went to post my comments over there. I used my user name and posted and then realized my post was blocked and then I was banned!

It has since become obvious to me that echinacities.com accepts big bucks from unlicensed agents and recruiters that scam foreign teachers and they use "moderation" to protect those agents from being publicly exposed. Craig Hill is maybe one of a handful of people hired by ECC and/or Rebecca Tang (ChinaESL owner)or maybe one of the other 51 crooked agents outed on the CFTU blacklist at this link:

http://www.chinaforeignteachersunion.org/2012/12/china-foreign-teachers-union-posts-esl.html

Just look at the amount of job ads for teachers being posted by ECC and how many are paid ads and how many are posted by agents! Less than 10% of those ads are from "direct employers" There is surely a very big conflict of interest there and their moderator "Traveler" aka "Craig Hill" (editor at the China Daily Mail is protecting their biggest interest - money!





Richard In Beijing said...

I just now posted the below comments at the China Daily Mail but my guess is that they will be gone or creatively "edited" within an hour or two

"Craig Hill is a shameful disgrace for posing as “Traveler” at Echinacities.com and “Chaofan” at thebeijinger.com – all to defend his biggest source of income – recruiting for China ESL which is owned by his friend R.T. I am not fooled by this great smear job he launched with this article. I suggest people read the blog of China Scam Patrol which just hit my RSS feed. Since Craig is known for “creative editing” and deletions I am taking a screen print of my post which will be gone or “reworded” in his favor tomorrow. Lastly, note that he never once finds any verifiable victim of the CFTU or even anyone who claims they paid any fees or any kind."

Galactica said...

There a few interesting comments about this situation at Echinacities.com and at this link too

http://chinascampatrol.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/is-the-china-d…l-a-shill-scam/

Anonymous said...

Someone must be losing a lot of money to go through all this blogging to discredit a group of volunteers. Yeah, labor unions are not legal for sure in China, but like someone else said, neither is corruption and cheating teachers. I just visited www.ChinaScamBusters.com and I'm sure someone will try to discredit them too!

Cindy From Lansing, Michigan said...

I just posted this at two other blogs and rather than retype it again I am just pasting it to save time. I will also try to post this at the China Daily Mail and echinacities.com as well.

"My name is Cindy and I have been a teacher in China since 2007 (mostly kindergartens). Although I was never a member of the CFTU I did do quite a bit of volunteer work for them in 2011 and 2012 before I got pregnant. I just posted the below post at another blog site and to save time I will just post it here as well...

"I tried posting here yesterday but for some reason my post did not appear so perhaps I did something wrong and shall try again...

First, I enjoy reading your articles which are usually fresh, light, and always interesting. However this post about the CFTU (China Foreign Teachers Union) is a bit disturbing to me because I am a teacher who in 2011 and 2012 did quite a bit of volunteer work for the CFTU. Most people don't realize it but everyone in the CFTU is a volunteer. I no longer do volunteer work with them but only because I now have two jobs and a new baby to attend to.

But I was a bit shocked when I read that the CFTU was being accused of being a Chinese scam when in fact it is not and anyone who ever attended a CFTU meeting would know this right away. The three founders were two Americans and a Canadian and the only Chinese that attend the meetings are usually the partners of foreign teachers working in China.

So I began doing research about the fellow who authored this article that you re-blogged and my husband reminded me that we had met this guy a few years ago when he tried to recruit me to teach for some Chinese school (I can't recall which now) but I was already working for Muffy's kindergarten. (continued below)

Cindy From Lansing, Michigan said...

(continued)

Anyway my husband and I were both puzzled why a foreigner would suddenly attack a group of volunteers that do a lot of free stuff for their teaching colleagues. Then we found the below links and now must ask you Ms. Brown... How well do you really know Craig Hill and do you know about his former girlfriend and business partner who was exposed in part by the CFTU?

http://craighillchinadailymail.blogspot.ca

http://chinascampatrol.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/is-the-china-daily-post-and-editor-craig-hill-a-shill-scam/

http://ChinaScamBusters.com

The above links are self-explanatory and in the cause of fairness, I think you should investigate further and not be so quick to reblog for people until you determine their motives. Two things should make you wonder 1) Why would Chinese expose other Chinese for scamming foreigners like the CFTU does on their web sites? And 2) If the CFTU was a scam why is there nobody claiming to be a victim?

I deliberately chose not to become a member like many volunteers, only because I did not want to get my name on anything that the Chines government could get a hold of and use as an excuse not to renew my visa, but I support them fully and helped them give free workshops on employee rights and remedies.

I attended over a dozen meetings and never did anyone from the CFTU try to sell me anything. Membership has always been free unless they changed their policy in the last six months? I made some good and helpful friends there and their blacklist kept me from making what would have been a bad decision. Perhaps you should visit their two websites www.ChinaForeihnTeachersUnion.org and www.ChinaForeignTeachersUnion.com and note that all of the following they provide for free:

* Free China Labor Laws In English
* Free Contract Reviews
* Free Arbitration Service
* Free Cross-Cultural Communications Workshops
* Free Black and White Lists
* Free VPN Software
* Free Employee Rights & Remedies Workshop
* Free Chinese Lessons

I only had to spend money twice in connection to the CFTU- once to pay 100 yuan for my share of a KTV party that included dinner, and another time I paid 60 yuan when a group of CFTU had an outing to visit the Great Wall together and the 60 yuan covered my bus, lunch, and admission costs to the park. Never once did I ever see anyone cheated at or by the CFTU.

I am not a trouble maker Ms. Brown, but I have a very low tolerance for gossip and the sort of foul play undertaken by Mr. Hill . Please read the above links and consider his real motives. Keep up the great articles on your blog since I read it regularly just for the jokes which are great.

In case I am not posting correctly I will take a screen print and email this to you as well.

Best wishes - Cindy

Truman said...

Rubbish! Craig is a great guy and law enforcement veteran. If you can't trust a copper who can you believe? This blog is probably also Chinese government propaganda and anyone who falls for it is a fool who deserves to be swindled!

Gina said...

Absolutely Truman - we all believe you - NOT!

I just received this email from someone (a teacher I have known for 3 years in China) and I will paste part of it here since she really doesn't want to get in the middle of a catfight with Rebecca.

"When I worked for Rebecca two years ago, she would take calls from Craig almost every day and I know that she went to visit himn twice in the summer of 2011.

I met him at the Swiss Hotel Job Fair in 2011 and he was soliciting foreigners for China ESL for the entire day and I recall that Rebecca gave me an envelope full of cash to deliver to Craig. I had to get a receipt from him for the 40,000 rmb that Rebecca paid him for that one day at Swiss Hotel and she later told me that he had recruited over a dozen full-time teachers for her which was his weekly "average".

So yes, he surely worked for Rebecca back in 2011 and I assume he still does but since I left last year, I am only guessing now. I will call **** who still works there and find out if Craig is still recruiting for Rebecca.

Please never quote me by name as the source of all this since she has a lot of contacts that can create problems for me still. She used to date the former head of the Beijing Police Dept. Mr. Pan.

Rock-N-Roll said...

This guy is a flaming asshole. He is selling out on his expats for small money. I guess his recruiter commissions must seem like a small fortune after working as a prison guard. A real asshole.

Rooster Red said...

Golly, gee whiz! Lookie here what I found from 2009 - another scam run by Craig Hill!
http://sparkywestwood.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/craig-hill-family-email-scam/

Unknown said...

I don't think it will take much convincing here, as it has been established that Craig Hill is not a credible person, but I'd like to just clarify any rumors that were "edited" I totally support CFTU and was not paid to say the things that I did about Rebecca Tang and ChinaESL; posts were edited, blocked and deleted like many others experienced. I feel sorry for the shmuck that comes across his phony website and believes it.

Anonymous said...

From what I just read at Echinacities.com this guy never tells the truth until he is caught in a lie!

He told one user he was not the Editor of the China Daily Blog and that he lived in Asutralia. A day later a user named XpatJohn forced him to admit he was th editor and living in Beijing!

Because he is knowingly luring expat teachers for Chinese frauds the guy is pond scum in my opinion. Rebecca Tang would probably disagree however.

Merlin said...

What do you expect from an ex-prison guard - the truth??? Prison guards are people who originally wanted to be cops but coulkd not make it through the screening process. Most have psychological issues as certainly is the case with this guy Craig Hill.

Anonymous said...

Anyone for some light reading?
Type "Kenneth Craig Hill QLD" into www.google.com.au and you'll find out about all his legal woes in Australia. Im staying anonymous because I know just how crazy he is!

Anonymous said...

Psychological Issues? Just Google 'Kenneth Craig Hill QLD' and you can see where that has been acknowledged in a court of law! (As a serial litigator, he tried to sue 'The Big Issue' for psychological damages). Don’t worry China folks, our dear Kenneth is currently stuck in Australia and has been for awhile now! Maybe the Chinese Government have finally refused to issue him with another tourist visa (anyone left to employ him on a work visa?). How is it that as the editor of the China Daily Mail (the voice from inside China!) is writing (well; mostly plagiarising) from Australia? It doesn't get more ‘Craig Hill’ than that!

Pito said...

Wow! This last post above from Anonymous gave a link that provides proof of two things:

1. Craig Hill is really "Kenneth Craig Hill"

2. Kenneth Craig Hill was officially found to suffer from "disabling mental disorders" by an Autralian Court in Queensland.

No wonder he gets along so well with Rebecca Tang of China ESL in Beijing. They are soulmates!

For details just Google "Kenneth Craig Hill, QLD"