About Tutor Scams

Attention tutors! Be aware of a scam that targets private tutors!

• View examples of scam emails tutors have sent to BPN. 
• See November 2024 Tutor Scam

Red Flags

1. They want to pay you with a paper check, usually a cashier's check. They might say their attorney needs to cut a check, or they don't know how to use online payment systems. If you ask them to pay you with Paypal or Venmo they will lose interest because the scam exploits a federal banking practice that credits paper checks quickly, but doesn't detect it as counterfeit until 1-2 weeks later.
2. The tutoring will be short-term.  They want to hire you for a limited time, often less than a month. They may tell you their child is traveling, or they are visiting your area for work and their child is coming with them, and needs tutoring while there. The scammer's goal is to give you a plausible reason why they are paying you in advance, and also create a situation where you need to act quickly. 
3. They want to pay your entire fee in advance. They'll ask you to tell them what your total fee is for the period requested, and they will not question the fees you propose; the more expensive you are, the better for the scammer. They will send you the money in advance, typically in the range of $500-$2000. 
4. They can't meet with you in person.  These scams are run from overseas, so the scammer will usually give you a reason why they are setting up tutoring for their child when they can't personally meet with you. They may give you a reason why they can't speak with you on the phone. They may say they need to communicate in text or email because they are hearing impaired.  They will usually mention that tutoring should take place at a library or cafe, not in the student's home. Since many tutors are offering online tutoring now, this makes it easier for an overseas scammer!
5. The agreement must be made quickly. The scammer they are leaving in a few days and will be out of contact for a while. Or their attorney, who is sending you the check, will be on vacation next week. They may pester you in a polite way for a fast response. The scammer is in a hurry to get you to deposit his check before the check is discovered to be counterfeit. Tutors are incentivized to act quickly because of the attractive lump sum.
6. Poor grammar & punctuation ... The scammers may have Anglo-sounding names to give the impression they are American or British, but their email contains grammatical errors that a native English speaker would not make, such as mixing up pronouns (using "he" to refer to "my daughter Julie"), and random capitalization such as the word "Month" in the middle of a sentence.  
7. Or ... Perfect grammar but odd, robotic wording  With the availability of AI-generated text, scammers can now send you a customized response in perfect English to any question you might ask without needing a full command of English. But it may not sound human. When one tutor told a scammer that she only used email, the scammer responded: "We can communicate through WhatsApp because I spend a lot of time using WhatsApp. My business partners and family members also use WhatsApp to communicate with me. We can get to know each other through WhatsApp so that I can feel at ease when my child learns knowledge from you."
8. Inconsistencies in names & facts. Scammers send out huge volumes of emails and texts, using fill-in-the-blank boilerplate templates. Sometimes they don't bother specifying the subject your post says that you tutor. They might mix up what they've already told and to whom. They may enter the wrong dates or names in the template they use. Examples: The scammer tells you the tutoring should commence in 3 weeks and then further down in the same email says that tutoring will begin "in March" which is 6 months away. The scammer's name might be different on subsequent emails they send you.  Their child's name or gender might change, even within a single email.

How the Scam Works

1. Once you and the scammer have agreed on the total amount, the scammer will send you a cashier's check for substantially more than the agreed-upon fee. For example: you told the scammer your total fee is $800 and he sends you a check for $1200. He will give you a reason for the excess, such as the check includes the child's expenses while in the US, or the attorney can't cut a check for a smaller amount.
2. The scammer will tell you to deposit the cashier's check into your bank account, and once your bank has credited the deposit, he will "trust" you to send him the excess. Sometimes there is a third party you must send the excess to, such as an attorney or a nanny. You may be told to wire the money or send it in gift cards, or via Zelle. 
3. After a day or two, your bank credits the cashier's check to your account and your balance reflects it. Thinking you have the cash in your account now, you withdraw the excess from your account and send it to the scammer as instructed.
4. In a week or two, the scammer's check will be found to be counterfeit, and your bank will deduct the amount of the scammer's check from your account. You will be liable for the entire amount. There is no way to recover it.

This type of scam is called a Check Overpayment Scam or Fake Check Scam. See About Check Overpayment Scams for details.

What to do if you are contacted by a scammer

1. Do not respond! If you've already replied, ignore further emails. If they texted you, block the number.
2. If they send you a check, tear it up.
3. If they used a gmail address, report it to google using this page: https://support.google.com/mail/contact/abuse?hl=en
4. If they tricked you into sending money, file a report with your local police department. This won't get your money back, but it creates a record so we all can know how often this happens.
5. You can also report it to the Federal Trade Commission and other government offices on this page: https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-spot-avoid-report-fake-check-scams
6. Don't take it personally. These scams are often run out of countries that have few economic opportunities. To the scammer, it's just a job that can be done from home on their phone, and the story the scammer tells has been carefully crafted over the years to gain the confidence of unsuspecting people.  This type of scam is very widespread and has been around for decades, targetting not only tutors but also childcare providers, job seekers, renters, and any other situation where someone is offering a service or a product online. See Craigslist's Avoiding Scams for more examples of this and other scams.

Example of a Tutor Scam Email

Hi, Thanks for your reply regarding my inquiry.Am John Conroy from UK,my 15 year old Son (Mike) will be coming to U.S for his holiday,and he is interested in having Algebra Maths / English Composition lesson during the holiday.He is a middle school student,very brilliant , sharp and smart little boy.He will be meting you for 1 hour lesson per day(3 times per week) either at you house or any nearest library(Morning or Afternoon).I got a good and responsible nanny that will relocate to your area to take proper care of him and also to always drive him down to the location of the lesson.So please Kindly get back to me the following: 1.Your charges per hour. 2.Total charges for 1 month that he will be taught one hour per day in 3 times a week. Please i may not get back to you on time through mail,this is due to the nature of my job.So mobile contact will be preferable.Waiting to read or hear from you soon. Thanks. John. T:+44 702 405 4527

• View More Examples of scam emails