The International Schools Review Forum

No, still no refund as of today. The last email I got from Andrew was a copy+past from a Paypal refund (which I took with a HUGE grain of salt). On that email it said 5-7 business days. Today is the 7th business day and no refund in the account. I'm almost certain it's not coming.

The fraud has been reported to the Police National Fraud and Cyber-crime Reporting Center at actionfraud.police.uk about 10 days ago as well, and we haven't heard anything from them. I will, of course, update if anyone contacts us.

At this point I'm really just ready to give up and hope that karma gives Andrew Spinks what he deserves. I've spent enough of my time and energy going after this low-life excuse of a businessman. My hope now is that others read this forum and don't fall for the trap. Sorry to everyone else who has lost money, hopefully the universe finds a way to give Spinks what's coming to him.

I hope you persist. He's been relying on people giving up - it's why he can keep doing what he does.
Thanks for alerting the rest of us to this scam.

I have been persistent in my emails once again and Spinks continues to make excuses as to why we haven't been refunded. It's now been 22 days since the money was first taken. He seems to have no understanding of how Paypal works for refunds even though he's perfectly able to take money via Paypal.

@Gluxnis ,

I suggest you report him to Trading Standards as we did. They are already investigating if his company is a scam. We will file with the Small Claims Court too. Our lawyer has informed more but cannot discuss this in a public forum. I highly suggest you do this if you want your money back. If you do so, there is a high chance you get your money back, goodluck.

You wont get your money back though small claims court or summary court, he wont show, and there is no way to enforce collection. All of his financing is done though intermediary online financial institutions (and why he doesnt take credit cards except through Pay Pal) As soon as the case is set for hearing, he'll empty his Pay Pal account and set up a new one. Unless an inspector and the CPS really puts in the time to make a case of petty fraud, nothing will happen. Its been believed for a while now that Andrew Spinks is an alias. You arent the first ones who have gone after him. It eventually costs much more than the case is worth to pursue as a civil matter.

More days, more excuses. The email chain between me and good old Andy Spinks is now at 55. While I still don't have my money (and, let's be honest, probably never will) it's been pretty comical to hear some of his excuses. The contradictions in his logic are amazing. He still maintains that GEL/IEG are legitimate companies and that he personally has "placed thousands of teachers" and yet he can't seem to fine 90 Pounds to refund us. Seems like a financially sound business to me!

Since now is the prime of recruiting season ans I would love nothing more than to help others avoid giving their money to the fraud Spinks, does anyone have any other ideas of places to post / warn people about him?

@Gluxnis

The only site that it would really be worth doing it at aside from ISR would be TES and they wont, and if you try they will just remove it.

After numerous email to and throwing and threats, my money was eventually paid back. Him and his organisation are an absolute farce!
See last email below, from me to him! Money was then re-paid!

Dear Andrew,

This is an utter lie and a fabrication of the truth to suit you.

I raised this concern with ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ on the---------- and thereafter and she replied that they were waiting for an answer. She did not even know that I had had a successful interview and to date has not returned a satisfactory reply, neither have you for that matter
You indicated that you have dropped this school, but it seems as if you have a hidden agenda.
I dare you to try and carry out your threat as I will expose this type of bribery that you have resorted to, to try and keep me quiet. I will hand this over to an advocate if I continue to receive any more correspondence from you regarding this and if my  "registration fees" are not repaid.
The threat above is extremely unprofessional from you as a recruitment agency and supports forums regarding your organisation:
"Unfortunately, you did not follow proper procedure in raising your complaint with us and allowing us the opportunity to discuss this with the school. Instead, you have behaved extremely unprofessionally with your conduct on social media. As a result of this unprofessional conduct, I feel that it is my duty to inform all other international recruitment agencies and schools of my concerns. This will make it very difficult for you to gain employment. Should I discover that you are working in an international school, I will also be informing them of my concerns about employing you."

I will be reporting this to ********** and will take this up with the UAE and BSME!

@Rebroff

Wow you got your coin back, Im surprised, really, most ITs just wont put in the months of time for £60, I doubt it was cost effective, but I can imagine in your case it was the principal more than anything else.

Andrew will probably carry out his threats, he's done it before, the good thing is no one takes him seriously, except the ISs he represents and even those ISs arent exactly in the position of being selective. Keep on him, and dont let him scurry into the dark, thats why hes been in business so long.

Took 2 emails, over 3 days, of my husbands time to get the money repaid!
There are a lot more dissatisfied , conned people out there, who have been done in by this group!

@Rebroff

It wont stop either.

He has left the UK due to investigations of him there. His company GEL used to be called international Education Group. GEL also stands for various things (Global Educational Logistics) and (Global Excellent Learning) he sometimes got confused between the two when he was writing to us in his scam. We also found out recently that another branch of GEL is (Global Elite Love) Some sort of Russian dating agency which also looks like a scam.

This man has been running this scam for years now. He keeps getting away with it by providing certain services and looking like a legit company but the truth is he has been scamming people out of little sums of money for years. Because it is never very big amounts he never gets in trouble.

His threatening demeanor causes many victims to back down and not pursue it further.

@Nelly

Is he in Russia, Id heard he was setting up shop in Thailand?

Is this him up to his old tricks in Canada?

https://www.globaleducationlogistics.co ... airs-2017/

Online Toronto, Canada Onsite International School Recruitment Fair 3rd/4th November 2018 North America

Online Vancouver, Canada Onsite International School Recruitment Fair 10th/11th November 2018 North America

His name appears here on this page in the testimonials:
https://www.globaleducationlogistics.co ... monials-2/

@Goddess

Looks like it. I dont know why it should be a surprise, that Nigerian Lottery scam has been around forever and still seems to work. Did you see his "Consultancy" and "Teacher Training" Course, he is even franchising his scam now (and he is listed as the recruitment manager).