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Thread: Watchout for shady but believeable CUCAS university scam from China...

  1. #1
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    Watchout for shady but believeable CUCAS university scam from China...

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    Warning! If you get a call or email offering you to study in China for free or tell you that you were selected for a scholarship, ask them to send you an email with all the details, and give you their website address. If you see the names "CUCAS" or "Beijing ChiWest" block their number and email and post it online here and other scam reporting sites. This fraud is four years old and being run by a former Chinese government official. Here are the details WordPress › Blog Tool, Publishing Platform, and CMS

    There were over a dozen complaints at fraudwatchers, scamwatch, scam-detector and complaintsboard.com but they have been using hackers to corrupt the link and then get them deleted. These guys are pro and at the average victim loses $1,000 - not enough to fly to China to file a police report or court claim. (You cannot file any complaint in China by proxy - you must personally go to a police station in China) There are still few complaints form 2011 and 2012 but they are buried deep on search engines.

    Their victims are mostly high school seniors and university students. They only just recently stopped using the BBB logo on their brochures but they still use a face edu.cn domain. (There is no BBB in China). This gang is very, very, slick. Be careful. Do not send them any personal identification they claim they need to process your "scholarship". A former CUCAS employee admitted that the files of people who do not sign up are sold to ID theft rings. If you are a scambaiter have fun with these crooks!

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  3. #2
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    Re: Watchout for shady but believeable CUCAS university scam from China...

    A few other scams are listed that may impact travelers, the two below relate to the thread.

    Scams | Embassy of the United States Beijing, China

    DIVERSITY VISA SCAM: One widespread Diversity Visa (DV) scam e-mail instructs recipients to send money via Western Union to a fictitious person at the U.S. Embassy in London or other world capitals. If you have received this e-mail, you have been targeted by con artists. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should money be sent to any address to participate in the DV Lottery. The Department of State's Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) does not send e-mail notification to DV entrants informing them of their winning entries.

    COACHING JOB SCAM: This scam includes requests for invitation letters and/or labor certifications for golf, tennis, football coaches or players and other proposed employment in China. The job offers often include very high wages and many benefits. Anyone considering accepting a job offer in China should NOT pay for their employment invitation documents, licensing fees, labor certifications, or any other up-front charges. The cost of obtaining and processing any needed documents are the responsibility of the Chinese employer and no legitimate company would ask the prospective employee to pay for them. In cases where Americans have sent money in response to such offers, they never hear from the "employer" again and are unable to get their money returned.

    All types of advance-fee scams have one point in common - the targeted person is led to believe that he or she has a chance to attain something of very great personal value (financial reward, a romantic relationship, etc) in return for a small up-front monetary outlay. As a general rule, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. To learn more about common used scams or if you have been a victim of an international scam please visit our website at

    Before You Go.
    "It's virtually impossible to violate rules ... but it's impossible for a violation to go undetected, certainly not for a considerable period of time." Bernie Madoff
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scam-...98399986981403

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    Re: Watchout for shady but believeable CUCAS university scam from China...

    Beware of CUCAS China Study Abroad Fraud - Chinese Scam in Progress In Beijing

    03-21-2014, 12:34 AM

    CUCAS IS A PRIVATE COMPANY - NOT A GOVERNMENT AGENCY!

    Look at their web site - it is impressive yet very misleading and false. They bought an edu.cn suffix (easy to do in China for $7,000 a year) to make it appear they are part of the government THEY ARE NOT! This is a private company owned by a Chinese man who takes $1,000 and more - not through Cucas, but through a third party consulting company owned by the same Chinese man who will only tell people his name is "Peter". If you ask him for his Chinese name or a business card he says he "just ran out of cards". Peter's second Chinese company charges "service fees" Yet CUCAS advertises that their service is FREE! No CUCAS client has ever paid less than $500 and some have paid as much as $3,000. (They start high an negotiate down if people protest about the price) CUCAS only represents schools that pay them a 20% commission including the below schools. If you tell tehm you want to go to Peking University or Tsinghua they will tell that enrollment is full instead of telling you the truth - Peking and Tsinghua refuse to do business with Peter because of his scammy reputation. When I mentioned the CUCAS name to a Peking University admissions manager, she rolled her eyes and warned me to stay clear of them.

    What they do for students is file an application and registration form that students can do for themselves in 2 hours time - online in many cases. Students only have to contact the international department of any Chinese University by telephone or email and request the forms in English. CUCAS staff even includes two foreign interns whose job is just to be in the office in case people walk in they will think their business is legitimate since most foreigners refuse to work for Chinese scams. The interns have no clue what is going on there and spend their time flirting with the girl students and playing video games on the computer. CUCAS steals about $30,000 a month from students abroad. It is all smoke and mirrors, but that edu.cn tag fools everyone.

    If you think CUCAS really is part of the Chinese government, contact or visit the Beijing SAIC (Business License Agency) about 300 meters West of Canadian International School in Beijing like I did, and in less than a minute you will know the truth with a computer search. Unfortunately CUCAS is now ruining the good name of the below universities:

    Beijing Foreign Studies University (an BFSU official named Liu Boran admiited he knows CUCAS is not a government agency - was he bribed? Probably)

    Beijing Language And Culture University

    University of International Business & Economics

    Shenzhen University

    Shanghai Jiao Tong University

    Shanghai International Studies University

    Dalian University of Foreign Studies

    Easy China Normal University

    Zhejiang University

    Sichuan University

    BTW... CUCAS tells American, Canadian, European, Latin, and Russian students that these schools are the "top 10 Universities in China" when they clearly are not even in the top 50! Avoid this company like the plague or you will flushing money down the toilet. There is NOTHING "FREE" in China and if you lived or worked there for only 3 months you would learn this in a hurry. BTW... I know about CUCAS because I was one of about 2 dozen foreigners in Wudaokou who was offered $100 to make a fake video testimonial for them. Many people took the money and used fake names. I did not. They then offered me $50 to give a fake written testimonial using a yahoo email account they offered to make for me. I refused. They also write fake reviews for themselves on line and pay GoAbroad.com $1,000 to give them high ratings. These people are bottom feeders with a fancy web site. BTW... the same Liu Boran of BFSU's International Department got his own wife a 30,000 rmb teaching job at the China Academy of Governance - a job that was supposed to be held by a Native English Speaker. Just ask Norman one of the foreign teachers who works there or Mr. Lu, the Director of the Academy. Collusion and corruption reigns supreme in China and ripping off foreigners is S.O.P. Beware of CUCAS or you will be sorry you ever heard their name or answered their email.

    Scam-Detector.com
    The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

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    Re: Watchout for shady but believeable CUCAS university scam from China...

    Is CUCAS Study In China Program A Scam? Too Many Expats Say “Yes”.

    Posted on March 21, 2014

    For the last four years Peter Zheng (his full Chinese name remains unknown at this time) has been soliciting expats in China and abroad to come study in China. Certainly there is nothing wrong nor unethical about this. Whether he charges foreigners $500 or $3,000 for his “Registration Services” is also quite legal if customers are willing to pay this price for someone filling out university application forms. But, it seems Peter relies on massive deception to make his sales and here is what our undercover investigation turned up…



    First you must understand that prior to opening up this hustle called CUCAS, Peter was a manager at China’s CERNET which is the government agency responsible for assigning and registering domain names. He worked their several years and as per a recording we obtained Peter was willing to sell .cn and .edu domain names to anyone willing to pay him $7,000 a year. Why would someone want these internet suffixes? Because if you had one, people would falsely believe you were a university or a part of the Chinese government, both of of which equate to credibility in China. As you can see here, Peter is quite proud of himself https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhengty. In China you are admired by Chinese society if you can swindle a foreigner without their knoweldge. This is actually the Chinese definition of the word “clever”.

    When he opened up CUCAS he gave himself a domain name that is illegal Study in China | China's University and College Admission System - CUCAS which deliberately misleads people and prospective clients to believe that his private company is actually a Chinese university when it is nothing more than a private commercial enterprise as we confirmed with SAIC of Beijing (which issues government business licenses) and the Haidian District Tax Authority. This deception is however only the first of many. Peter and his staff lie to foreigners and tell them that application forms to Chinese universities are in Chinese and very complicated and only those with “connections” will get into Chinese Universities. This too is utter bollocks since every university in China has an international department that accepts applications in English, Spanish, and French. The only “connection” you need is the money that pays your tuition.

    The next deception is quite a doozy! Peter and his associate advertise on their website that their services are “FREE”. If they were in fact a government entity that would make sense. The truth of the matter is that CUCAS requires all their applicants to pay their sister company hefty service fees of $500 to $5,000 depending upon a) what package is purchased and b) how gullible and naive the buyer may be. The sister company is called “Beijing Chiwest” and guess who owns this company? Peter’s relative! (Zheng Tian Ting) So the “FREE” is absolutely bullshit.

    To see the connection between the companies look at this old 2010 ad that CUCAS placed on an expat job forum CUCAS looking for Vietnamese for marketing coordinator based in Vietnam | the Beijinger And here is the the web site of Beijing Chi West: http://chiwest.cn which is hosted on the same server as http://Cucas.edu.cn.

    Next deception… When prospects are called by skype in America, Canada, the U.K. etc. they are told that the person calling is the “International Admissions Manager” of the CUCAS “agency” yet the entire CUCAS fraud team pictured below are all Chinese. Occasionally when a government official comes by to inspect business licenses or reps from universities want to see his office, Peter will arrange for a few foreign expats to be in the office that day.



    More than one CUCAS client has told us that Peter helped them find jobs in China teaching even though they would be working illegally on an “L” or “X” visa. Apparently breaking one more law is no big deal to Peter escpecially since it will be the expat teacher that will be fined deported with a reentry ban and not him!

    Moving right along, the next deception is that CUCAS staffers claim they represent only the top 20 Universities in China. Again this is a pile of horse manure. The top universities are Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University, China Academy of Sciences, etc. and only 1 of the 10 universities he cooperates with is in the top 25. The universities that he does represent are those that pay him the highest commissions of 15% – 20%.

    Now we get to the best part for Peter. Not only is he collecting 20% commissions from the universities but $500 to $5,000 from the students who applications he is processing. Thus he is collecting at both ends while having the audacity to advertise that he provides a “FREE SERVICE” and that he is promoting a “Cultural Exchange”. We give Peter a “A” for creativity and an “F” for ethics and honesty.

    Peter elevates himself within the Chinese community as someone promotes “cultural exchange” between the East and West yet not many CUCAS clients think very highly of Peter once they realize how much of their money actually went into his pockets. Yet Peter loves to give speeches anywhere he is allowed to have a public forum. He uses those opportunities to recruit even more victims for his clever “educational” scheme.




    We are bringing this matter to the attention of every University in China as well as the Procuriate’s office and the CCP’s Corruption Bureau in Beijing. Peter has bragged on tape that his “guan xi” is the best and now we will see if that is also yet another lie. You can visit his elaborate web site and read all the shill testimonials and fake “reviews” his former employee informed us about. By the way, Peter wants us all to know that he is friends with the U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke as you can see here. DO you think he told the Ambassador what he really does for a living?


    China Scam Patrol
    The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing

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    Re: Watchout for shady but believeable CUCAS university scam from China...

    I found his Chinese name:

    郑天盈 TianYing Zheng

    It wasn't that hard to find, actually. Backtrack from the photo and you'll get this article:

    http://www.edu.cn/dong_tai_421/20131..._1053283.shtml
    ---
    A MLM Skeptic (not a Cynic) covering scams, critical thinking, and psychology
    http://amlmskeptic.blogspot.com

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    Re: Watchout for shady but believeable CUCAS university scam from China...

    CUCAS is also blacklisted at Wolf Watch | Keeping The Sheep Safe 24/7 and at 2012 China ESL, TEFL, IELTS, & TOEFL Blacklist of Schools & Training/Learning Centers. What is interesting however is how deep their complaints are buried on pages 20-25 of a google search. How did they bury this stuff?

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    Re: Watchout for shady but believeable CUCAS university scam from China...

    CUCAS is at it again guys, he now partnered with several recruiters and visa agents to make them sales agents including Panda Visa service out of New York and Angelina's ESL Café. He tried to recruit a bud of mine who is also a visa agent and offered him $500 for every referral that enrolled with him. He obviously knows how to network.

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