To understand this scam you need to understand two things… First the two biggest scam industries in China are schooling (education) and employment agents (recruiters). Second, Craig Hill who established, owns, and operates the China Daily Mail blog site is a veteran and seasoned scam artist residing in Brisbane, Australia but who makes frequent trips to China. Although “Craig” goes by the name of “Craig Hill”, his real name is Kenneth Craig Hill. Aside from being a disgraced prison guard who was asked to resign after caught smuggling drugs to Australian prisoners in the 1980s, Kenneth also tried to file a fraudulent disability claim with the Australian government and was caught doing so. That is when he changed his name to Craig Hill and moved to China to expand his fraud career. If you doubt the above just visit these links and you will get the documented details…
http://craighillchinadailymail.blogspot.co.uk/
http://chinafraudpatrol.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/australian-kenneth-craig-hill-aka-craig.html
http://sparkywestwood.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/craig-hill-family-email-scam/
http://www.chinaforeignteachersunion.com/2013/04/china-foreign-teachers-union-targeted.html
http://www.esl-jobs-forum.com/viewtopic.php?p=13294
Upon arriving in China he operated petty email scams that required up front fees, but in 2005 he met and had an affair with a charming and well-educated woman named Rebecca Tang who is notorious for operating scammy recruiting operations for English teachers in China (Just Google “Rebecca Tang China ESL Scam) for details. Although the romance did not last more than a year, the couple established a business relationship where “Craig” being a trusted foreigner in the expat community would recruit English teachers for Rebecca’s China ESL operation which is known for stealing 50% of a teacher’s salary, and extorting them for release letters, and charging them for invitation letters. (There are no shortage of horror stories at TheBeijinger.com, and the ChinaForeignTecahersUnion.org websites). Here are just a sampling of 87 online complaints…
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
Craig undertook his new “job” with zeal and over the last five years lured over 500 expat teachers into miserable situations that usually resulted in teachers getting violent with Rebecca’s crony principals who cheated them, or simply forcing teachers to go home broke without their last pay checks and owed thousands of dollars. For each teacher that Craig brought to Rebecca he would be paid $500 or $1000 (depending on whether he hit his quota of ten teachers per month). By Craig’s own admission in 2009 at a Goose and Duck Sports bar, he boasted (while intoxicated) that he earns over $100,000 a year working 4 hours a day making some phone calls and putting ads on the internet at echinacities and thebeijinger.com. Those present at the Goose and Duck that night were Angel Hu, Paul Robinson, and David Beasely amongst others. They helped stuff Craig into a cab that night so he could get home safely.
That night Craig admitted that he also used the China Daily Mail and another expat blog whose name they cannot now recall (remember they were all drinking together) to lure expat readers and harvest their email addresses so he could later recruit them for the China ESL fraud. He compared his exploits to the group as “going fishing”. He also claimed it was the easiest money he ever made and he had zero fear of any authorities shutting him down in China. On these points he was surely speaking the truth.
Basically, any foreigner who registers at his China Daily Blog site, or even makes a comment on some of the 500 articles he claims to have written (almost all are cut and pasted from Xinhua Wire Service, China Daily, or Global Times newspapers with only slight modification of the text), their emails are taken and within a month those blog visitors will get a “job offer” to teach out of the blue. Recently he has begun offering other very lucrative jobs that require applicants to send in their resumes and scans of their visas and passports. Why?
Read this eye-opening article about China’s third most popular scam that targets foreigners:
http://open.salon.com/blog/china_business_central/2013/03/13/phony_china_recruiters_now_target_5000_expats_monthly_1
Fast forward a few years later to 2011, and one of Craig’s own personal friends of 12 years (she does not want her name used publicly) has some falling out with Craig and reports his shady dealing with Rebecca Tang to the China Teachers Alliance (now defunct) and the China Foreign Teachers Union as well as China Scam Patrol. The latter two groups issued Scam Alerts to their members in 2011 and 2012. You can google “China Daily Mail Craig Hill Scam” and see the results for yourself.
Since that exposure took place, Craig undertook a personal vendetta smear campaign against the China Foreign Teachers Union and you will now note that in every single blog posted at the China Daily Mail, he will make some effort to bash the CFTU, simply because they exposed him as an agent for Rebecca’s China ESL. He has also made drunken personal threats by telephone and email to people who have accused him of being Rebecca’s accomplice since 2005 which even China ESL employees have confirmed including former employee Wang Wei who said in a confidential email…
“Craig calls Rebecca at least twice a week, usually about new referrals he sent us and to confirm that we received their resumes. I’m not sure of the exact numbers but he sends about 5-10 new teachers to us every week. Sometimes they argue about expense reimbursement, but their relationship seems to be a love-hate thing. Craig sent us a lot of foreign teachers in 2010 which was more than any other agent we had that year.”
Now you have a basic understanding of why Craig who poses as “Traveler” at echinacities.com (he admitted his identity when confronted at that forum) and other forums in China to attach and smear the people who exposed him – the CFTU. (China Foreign Teachers Union) and the old CTA. While Rebecca is brazen enough to admit her exploits as a crooked recruiter, Craig aka Ken, is still in denial and will not fess up to his China ESL dirty work, and betrayal of his fellow expats.
He has repeatedly been caught in lies at forum like this exchange below at echinacities.com where he first claims to be in China and then admits he is really in Australia. http://answers.echinacities.com/question/china-foreign-teachers-union-actually-chinese-run-operation He first denies being “Traveler” but then is forced to admit the truth when a another poster digs up some other posts where he admitted it. He still has not admitted that the Queensland government of Australia has officially certified him to be “mentally disturbed.” (As you can see from this link) http://craighillchinadailymail.blogspot.co.uk/
Craig was officially blacklisted by the China Foreign Teachers Union in 2012. His former lover Rebecca has been residing on that same blacklist since 2010. The below is how most expat teachers in China now view Craig Hill.
In closing we leave you with a warning to be weary of any inviting emails you receive from any “foreigner” offering you a teaching job in good English from a variety of emails including yahoo.com, hotmail.com, gmail.com, as well as the usual 163.com, sina.com, 126.com, qq.com, yeah.net, etc. Between Rebecca and Craig they account for almost 80% of all the spam emails in China targeting foreigners for teaching jobs. Avoid agents completely and definitely just delete these emails. If you really want to work in China you are well advised to visit two web sites: http://ChinaScamBusters.com, and http://www.CleverChinaCheaters.com BEFORE you send any personal information or resumes to anyone. 20% of foreigners in china are victimized by identity thieves and Craig is known to sell resumes and passport/visa scans to people fronting for ID theft rings for $1,000 per file. Below is a photo of prison guard Kenneth Craig Hill supplied by one of his former long time friends who summarized Craig as “A bold bastard who even tried to scam the Australian government!”
The China Daily Mail & Craig Hill Scam Exposed & Explained... 