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Focus Education is Same Stanford English Study Abroad Scam Owned By Xu Yi (许轶) In Beijing, China
After I already posted the below warning, and the time expired to edit my post, I received an email update from a former employee explaining that Xu Yi uses both company names but he does all the deception under one name and tries to keep the other one clean. He apparently was already told to stop using the Stanford name two years ago so now advertises only under the Focus Education name. But no matter what name is used, the employees and customers are still being cheated.
Here is a bold scam that is run by a Chinese graduate of Stanford University named Xu Yi ( 许轶 ) who tells all his Chinese study abroad students that he is "partners" with Stanford University, but the legal department of Stanford University says WTF! In fact they deny any business relationship with this man and his company which is located in the Cyber Tower building in the Haidian District of Beijing.
Former employees report that many photos used on the web site are not even clients of Focus Education and that many fake testimonials and reviews were written by the employees and two employees that refused to write fake testimonials were fired. http://www.focusedu.cn/images/logo.png
Mr. Xu Yi has cheated over a dozen former employees out of more than 200,000 including foreign teachers and Chinese staff who all say they never got their last pay checks. One foreign teacher even provided China Scam Patrol with a real SAT Test that he says Xu Yi sells to Chinese students for $5,000! He further guarantees to get students placed in a top 100 university for a fee of 40,000 yuan (about $7,500) Former employees claim that over 100 customers demanded refunds from him in 2014 but he tells his clients "Tell your lawyer to read the terms and conditions and sue me if you like!" I read his contract which is the epitome of confusion. Less than 30% of his customers were placed in a top 100 university despite the "guarantee" that he makes to everyone.
Stanford English aka Focus Education received funding from the Tiger Fund of America of about $300,000 and he recently misrepresented himself to investors and Bloomberg News who he invited to "come interview me". Below is part of the SAT Test that he sold to one student and China Scam Patrol says the are still investigating the company. I wonder if Tiger Fund ever did any due diligence on this company since the former employees say that anyone who does business with the company gets cheated one way or another. Below is the building they operate from in Beijing. I thank Jason for sharing this information with me as well as the three former employees who had lunch with me when I was recently in Beijing.
UPDATE: I was just informed that WeiXin messages are being sent out by the hundreds offering to sell real SAT tests from 2013
I have not been able to find an SAIC business license issued to "Stanford English" (nor Focus Education) and the Beijing Municipal Tax Authority and the College Board both say they are now opening investigations into the company and the man whose ego is almost as big as the Cyber Tower building. Visit the office and you will find Stanford flags and logos everywhere. Most Chinese apparently believe his BS so we will post some warnings on WeiBo and WeiXin as well as ask BTV and CCTV to investigate the company for the benefit of the Chinese students being swindled by this scam artist. I am forwarding all my information to China Scam Patrol and if anyone else has info about this guy, or has been cheated by him no matter what company name he used (photo above), please send the details to me [or email directly to CSP] report{at}ChinaScamPatrol.org
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