Looking for info on "Selwyn" (Kaohsiung/Tainan)

Springfield · September 9, 2008, 11:28am

So I posted info about needing a job and received an eager reply from this guy with the email address “lulu_06062003”. It seemed sketchy so I disregarded It. A few days ago my friend who is in Kaohsiung with me said he found a guy who set him up with a job in no time flat, so I went along with him to meet the guy. He called himself “Siman” and set me up with a job in about five seconds and I started that same day.

I like the job and the kids and I’ve been teaching for 2 days. However I was supposed to meet up with “Siman” today to sign the contract but before I went I came across all of this stuff about a guy named ‘Selwyn’ who supposedly scams new foreign teachers. I realized this was the same guy and me and my roommate started researching him.

He seems like bad news so I called off the contract signing.

Does anyone know if he really is bad news or not? Did I freak out over nothing?

sandman · September 9, 2008, 11:48am

Sounds like a dumb question, but… erm… what does the contract say? Just asking, like.

almas_john · September 9, 2008, 12:00pm

Springfield,
Forumosa is a bit too classy for the rough blue collar foreigners calling Kaohsiung home. You’ll have better luck posting on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kaohsiung_Bulletin/
Sign up if you haven’t already, and post your question. Good luck.

almas_john · September 9, 2008, 1:02pm

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kaohsiung_Bulletin/message/2634

Wow, quite a bit on this agent on the Kaohsiung yahoo message board.

[quote]Everyone,

The previous message from luck_dung@… is from a sleazy agent named
SELWYN. Last year he stole $35,000 from a girl who worked for him.
He is not a “English Teacher Job Center”.

If you want more information please use the message search function
on Kaohsiung_Bulletin Yahoo Groups, Tainan_bulletin Yahoo Groups,
KaohsiungLiving_com Yahoo Groups, ForeignTeacherTaiwan Yahoo Groups
and type in the name “SELWYN”.

Just recently he sent me a death threat saying his boss was looking
for me and they were going to kill me.

Stay far away from this guy.

New teachers that post looking for jobs please watch out! He will
call you or email you or text message you and say his name is
Director Chaung, or Mr. Chang, Teacher Chan, etc.

Below is the last message I sent to KaohsiungLiving.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I want to warn any foreigners or teachers on this board to watch out
for an agent named Selwyn. He stole $35,000 from a teacher last year
and now he signs on to numerous bulletin boards and groups under fake
emails and names.

This is the message I received from him today:

Kaohsiungliving’s moderator ,Keith,your DEATH"s time is close

Fuck of Kaohsiungliving’s moderator ,fuck U Keith,U are telling the
people not the true things,my boss company’s stiff seeking your
location,they want to kill u,u are in very dangerous situation.

He uses the names Siman, Mr. Chang, Director Chuang, Teacher Chan,
Teacher Yang, or sometimes Steven Hopone. I cannot stress enough to
stay away from this agent.

A few months ago he tried to join our Yahoo Group and I posted a
similar message to this, warning people about him. In three days I had
received 10 emails and 4 phone calls from people who had worked for
him or were currently working for him. Not one good thing to say
about him. He lies to teachers. He will tell you one hourly wage
and then not remember when it comes time to pay and pay you less.
The girl he stole from worked a summer camp for 5 weeks and then he
refused to pay her.

He uses many email addresses and names.
steventwan@
stevenson0324@
abcd12343800@
jimmy2379494@
tigersontigerson@
july2230260@
playboy858@
yyiiffaanngg@
player222player222@
lulu_06062003@
rex850324@

Hope this helps some of the new people in Taiwan. If you post on any
of the boards about looking for a job, he will call you repeatedly.
Please watch your back.

Keith[/quote]

Huang_Guang_Chen · September 9, 2008, 1:12pm

I love the way they do business down there in that southern su la paradise.

HG

UncleJamie · September 9, 2008, 2:02pm

IF it is the same guy, you did the right thing.

IF NOT, well, explain to the guy about what you had heard, say it is a misunderstanding, etc.

How 2 know? well, as said, join the Kaohsiung and/or tainan tahoo groups, search Selwyn and then get in touch with the people who have met him and see if the guy you know matches the description/has the same office address.

Good Luck and welcome to Taiwan and f.com

Jamie

Persephone · September 10, 2008, 5:03pm

Check your PMs.

wudjamahuh · September 16, 2008, 4:26pm

As for Selwyn, he sounds like he’s an agent. As a general rule, agents suck. The best ones don’t hide the fact that they’re taking money that should be yours and the worst ones pretend that they’re some kind of non-profit NGO that sets foreigners up with jobs out of the goodness of their own hearts until BAM - you’ve got one damn disappointing payday.

marboulette · September 16, 2008, 4:31pm

Keith, one of the founders of Kaohsiung living, arranged a fake meeting with this Selwyn guy. A friend of Keith pretended he needed a teaching job. A handful of guys went along with Keith and I guess Keith made himself clear… Selwyn was to stop spamming Kaohsiung living and fishing for more people to rip off.

Keith and Dale have left Taiwan very recently and the site is now run by volunteer administrators. And Selwyn is already right back at it.

Many people have had decent experiences dealing with the guy, but a handful of them were done wrong, from what I hear. Makes for a pretty untrustworthy agent in my book.

marboulette

Lighthouse · August 9, 2012, 1:48pm

GUESS WHO’S BACK?

[b]Hi All,

Just a note about “Steven”:

His name is really Simon and has become infamous in Kaohsiung. He is an agent and he tried to take advantage of at least 4 of my friends that I know of. He is using other names because his reputation is so tarnished by his own actions.

Apparently he constantly changes agreements, brings people to schools not within their specifications without telling them, signs contracts with them that are separate from the schools they are going to work with, and provides them with very low paying positions (presumably because the extra pay goes to him).

Always ask for the details of any job. His posts usually read

Insert Name,

We need a teacher. Please call me.

Steven.

A few times I have asked him to give the details of the jobs in question. He never does.

He takes around NT 200 per hour. Teacher gets around 450. If he has a few teachers in full time positions he has a nice little scam going.

The initial interview is to see how hard he can screw you.

His usual line is how so many people want kindy jobs, so they are low paying. Lucky to get NT 450 an hour yada yada. Buxibab, NT 500 yada yada.
u][/i][/b]

dan2006 · August 9, 2012, 2:58pm

To lighthouse.

I have been following your issues with Selwyn with interest on Kaohsiung living and that guy sounds like a real snake.

Hopefully you can destroy his business by letting everyone know, but I guess there is always people that don’t check online before they sign.

Lighthouse · August 9, 2012, 3:18pm

[quote=“dan2006”]To lighthouse.

I have been following your issues with Selwyn with interest on Kaohsiung living and that guy sounds like a real snake.

Hopefully you can destroy his business by letting everyone know, but I guess there is always people that don’t check online before they sign.[/quote]

HI Dan,

Have you read the racist comments, threats etc?

Any ideas on how else I can make people aware?

Thanks for replying .

Chris · August 9, 2012, 3:20pm

I checked out the thread on the Kaohsiung Living forum, and this guy sounds like bad news. Avoid.

Chris · August 9, 2012, 3:22pm

Also post to Taiwaneasia, Taiwan Ho (if it still exists) and Dave’s ESL Cafe (if it still exists).

Lighthouse · August 9, 2012, 3:59pm

Also post to Taiwaneasia, Taiwan Ho (if it still exists) and Dave’s ESL Cafe (if it still exists).[/quote]

great advise thanks mate … will do that asap.

Lighthouse · August 9, 2012, 4:02pm

Lighthouse wrote:
Current names he goes by

Simon,
Siman,
Steven,
Twan,
Spider, (email) (PM Me for this)
Jobcenter (email)
needteacher65 : (Pm me for this)

Phone numbers he uses: (PM me for this)

Hes not too difficult to identify as he usually writes in the same style and always seem to use a yahoo.com.tw email address

for example:

“Can u give me a call ?we need teacher.
Twan 09xxxxxxxx”

Hope this is helpful and please beware!