Tuesday, August 21, 2012

How Not to Hire a Music Teacher

As a college music teacher, my name is listed in a number of directories and websites so I occasionally get inquiries in my email box. Here's one I recently received from none other than "Mr. Elvis":

>*Hello, This is Mr Elvis, I want private lessons for my daughter, Mary.
>Mary is a 14 year old girl, home schooled and she is ready to learn Please,
>I will like to know if you will be capable and available for the tutoring
>service because I really wish the tutorial begins First week of September,
>2012 and if you are going for any trip let me know the date you will be
>back (Break Shall be Observed), also do get back to me with the following 
details about you:

>Your Name:
>Area of Specialization:
>Years of experience:
>Your Location:
>Your charges per hour $:
>Your Phone Number:    

   I will be glad to read back from you soon so that i can keep in touch with my daughter about the progress of her tutorial.
           My best regards,*

*Elvis*

Here's some advice to "would-be" scammers  -  
  1. Learn English.
  2. If you find me by name, don't then turn around and ask what my name is.
  3. When you are clearly a foreign speaker,  surely you can assume a foreign name for yourself  more convincing than  "Mr. Elvis".
  4.  Leave off the asterisk right after "My Best Regards" - it's a dead giveaway. 
  5.  Stay out of my email box or I'll track you down and use your body parts for one of my science experiments on fermentation.  

THE SCAM
     Here's How It Works

When the lessons are arranged, the scammer will send a check for a rather large amount of money, maybe even more than you requested, to "pay in advance".   When you deposit this check the funds could be available to you even before the check clears.  You will then be requested to return some of it, for airfare for the kid, or to correct an "overpayment".  When the check finally bounces weeks down the road, you are out the money - it is your responsibility to cover bounced checks, not the bank. 
 
   Here's some advice from the Suzuki Association Website:

It is sometimes difficult to spot a genuine student inquiry from a scam one especially if you are based in a town where there might be many foreign students.
There are patterns to scam emails and one emanating from an overseas source will contain many of the elements below.

  1. Poor English including poor spelling and punctuation
  2. Demands for a ridiculous teaching schedule: “one hour’s lesson every day for 4 weeks”
  3. Strange travel and accommodation conditions usually involving an overseas pupil
  4. The overseas pupil is almost always referred to as a beginner and age 14 or above
  5. Attempts to dictate terms to you rather than asking for YOUR terms
  6. No phone number
  7. Does not use your name anywhere: “hello” instead of “Dear Mr Bloggs”
  8. Discrepancies in their own name
  9. Does not refer to the actual specialism you advertise but a generalisation: “music lessons” instead of “piano lessons”
    1. Uses a hotmail, yahoo, mail or other disposable email account
The initial email is unlikely to mention financial arrangements in any detail but subsequent ones certainly will.
To make sure you don’t get scammed:

  1. Ignore emails containing most of the above elements
  2. If in doubt speak directly to the sender of the email
  3. Remember that scams always involve money
  4. If you are taking payment in advance you should do it in person
  5. Never take advance payment by cheque or wire transfer from someone you don’t know