ESLinsider review, submitted by Lynn.

ESLinsider – a poor experience.

I surely can’t be the first (and very likely won’t be the last) to fall for Ian Leahy’s spiel when he trashes Online TEFL programs and somehow convinces you to take the only “really legit one”.

It turns out to be his course btw.

What began as excitement progressed to worry and then to some hair pulling.

$400 US for a shi**y TEFL course which I’ve recently learned isn’t legit at all.

Ian Leahy owns ESLinsider and he is plastered all over the internet.

Please, don’t fall for his trap.

You’ll be searching for a specific program and come across an ESLinsider post that trashes it (he seems to trash all his competitors) and then takes you down the rabbit hole to Ian’s overpriced and underwhelming TEFL course.

I read on here that he has even been banned from Facebook because of the spreading of BS.

I’ll give it two stars because it was a TEFL course and it did contain some useful information about teaching in Asia, despite some tips for female teachers being overtly misogynistic.

The issue, though, is that no school seems to accept the certificate.

Guess it’s because of his school’s website that really should have raised a red flag from the start.

https://www.eslinsider.com

Guess I’ll just need to pick a different online TEFL provider.

I got fooled once, but not a second time.

I’ve narrowed my search down to OISE University of Toronto TEFL and TEFL Online Pro.

Does anyone have any experience with either program for teaching online work?

TEFL Online Pro is running a very tempting 50% off course discount so I’m veering more toward them.

Any feedback welcome. Thanks!

Read more ESLinsider reviews

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Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

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The post “ESLinsider – a poor experience” appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

2025 has come and gone, and as a result, we are now looking forward to what 2026 will bring to the world of online TEFL/TESOL certification course tuition.

However, before moving forward, we fundamentally believe it is important to take a brief look back at 2025, as the past is often a reliable predictor of the future.

2026 TEFL Online Reviews – The Good

To begin with, let’s start with the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2025.

Overall, the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2025 were:

1. TEFL Online Pro
Website: https://teflonlinepro.com/
Reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-reviews-in-2025/

Top of our list is TEFL Online Pro. Students consistently rate their courses, customer support, and teaching online and abroad job-finding services as being excellent. All TEFL Online Pro courses come with 24/7 online tutor support, and there are no hidden fees.

Notably, TEFL Online Pro was the winner of the Teachers’ Choice Award in 2025—winning for a seventh consecutive year.

2. OISE University of Toronto TEFL
Website: https://teflonline.teachaway.com/
Reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/oise-university-of-toronto-tefl/

In second place on our list is OISE University of Toronto TEFL. Student feedback on this program is consistently positive, and one of the standout positive points of feedback is the program’s links to the University of Toronto. All OISE University of Toronto TEFL courses come with online tutor support, and there are no hidden fees.

3. CIEE TEFL
Website: https://www.ciee.org/
Reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/ciee-tefl/

In third place on our list is CIEE TEFL. Student feedback on this program is consistently positive, and all their courses come with online tutor support and international job guidance services. CIEE TEFL offers job placement support for countries such as Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, and there are no hidden fees.

4. Maximo Nivel TEFL
Website: https://maximonivel.com/
Reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/maximo-nivel-tefl/

In fourth place on our list is Maximo Nivel TEFL. Student feedback on this program is consistently positive, and one of the standout positive points of feedback is their ability to provide job placement services for the Central/South American teaching markets. All Maximo Nivel TEFL courses come with online tutor support, and there are no hidden fees.

5. Vantage TEFL Certification
Website: https://www.englishatvantage.com/tefl-combined-class-thailand/
Reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/vantage-tefl-certification/

In fifth place on our list is Vantage TEFL Certification. Student feedback on this program is consistently positive, and all their courses come with online tutor support. Graduates highly rate this program for job-finding support services within Thailand. Vantage TEFL Certification also offers a 4-week (in-class) TEFL/TESOL course.

Importantly, the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2025 remain unchanged heading into 2026.

For further details, read the full article.

Essential TEFL Tip!

Are you worried about being scammed? TEFL course scams are becoming more sophisticated.

Protect yourself from TEFL scams.

We strongly recommend choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2026:

The 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL Courses in 2026

By choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL Certification Course Programs, you are guaranteed not to be scammed.

Choose a fully accredited and internationally recognized online TEFL/TESOL certification course that you can use for all online and abroad teaching English jobs.

Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews

2026 TEFL Online Reviews – The Bad And The Scams

Unfortunately, not all providers meet acceptable standards.

With that in mind, the 5 Worst Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2025 were:

1. ESLinsider
   Website: https://www.eslinsider.com/
   Reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/eslinsider-tefl/

ESLinsider has been banned from Facebook since 2027 for spreading disinformation and misinformation. In contrast, despite attempting to portray itself as a TEFL whistleblower website, this is merely a marketing ploy to promote a single course—its own. Additionally, it is notorious for self-publishing fake reviews.

2. TTA The TEFL Academy
   Website: https://www.theteflacademy.com/
   Reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/the-tefl-academy/

TTA The TEFL Academy publishes false information regarding its worldwide accreditation status. In reality, it is not accredited at all. Furthermore, it is notorious for self-publishing fake reviews. At best, its certificates are only recognized in Ireland, England, and Malta.

3. MyTEFL
   Website: https://mytefl.com/
   Reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/mytefl-blacklisted-warning/

MyTEFL created its own fake accreditation website and is Similarly notorious for self-publishing fake reviews.

4. ITTT International TEFL and TESOL Training
   Website: https://www.teflcourse.net/
   Reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/ittt/

Meanwhile, ITTT operates over ten different but strikingly similar websites and is also notorious for self-publishing fake reviews.

5. World TESOL Academy
   Website: https://www.worldtesolacademy.com/
   Reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/world-tesol-academy/

Ultimately, its certificates are considered a joke within the TEFL world. Once again, it is notorious for self-publishing fake reviews.

As expected, the 5 Worst Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2025 are also unchanged heading into 2026.

For more details, read the full article.

Additionally, a dishonorable mention would not be complete without also mentioning TEFL Universal and Henry Harvin Education:

TEFL Universal
Website: https://tefluniversal.com/
Reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-universal/

After TTR exposed TEFL Universal for its scam practices, it decided to change its school logo—presumably in an attempt to distance itself from numerous valid customer complaints. Nevertheless, it remains notorious for self-publishing fake reviews.

Henry Harvin Education
Website: https://www.henryharvin.com/tefl-course
Reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/henry-harvin-education/

Likewise, Henry Harvin redesigned its website after TTR exposed it for scamming online TEFL/TESOL students. It too remains notorious for self-publishing fake reviews.

2026 TEFL Online Reviews: Conclusion

As an additional note, the winner of the Teachers’ Choice Award is eligible to run course discount advertisements for the entire year during their award tenure.

Consequently, this is why TEFL Online Pro is currently given carte blanche to promote its course discounts.

Likewise, the winner of the Teachers’ Choice Award in 2026 will enjoy the same perk.

Finally, let’s hope that 2026 brings peace, happiness, and—most importantly—a significant reduction in scam online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs.

Thank you for reading this “2026 TEFL Online Reviews & 2025 Year in Review” Trusted TEFL Reviews article.

Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post 2026 TEFL Online Reviews & 2025 Year in Review appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

ESLinsider review (https://www.eslinsider.com/) submitted by Tanya.

I feel completely misled and extremely frustrated after enrolling in the ESLinsider TEFL course, run by Ian Patrick Leahy. I signed up hoping to begin a new chapter teaching in Europe, but instead, I’ve ended up with a certificate that no school will accept.

At the time, I didn’t know that Ian Leahy has a reputation for spreading misinformation and was reportedly banned from Facebook back in 2017 for such behavior. If I had known that, I never would have trusted his platform with my money or career plans.

The course itself was basic, lacked credibility, and didn’t include any real teaching practicum or recognized accreditation. Now I’m stuck in Europe, unable to secure a teaching job, because employers won’t recognize the certificate. I’ve contacted multiple language schools and agencies, and they’ve either never heard of ESLinsider or flat-out reject it as invalid.

To make matters worse, the tone and professionalism from Ian, when I reached out with concerns, were dismissive and arrogant. There’s no real student support, no oversight, and no way to recover the time and money I wasted.

I trusted ESLinsider to provide a legitimate TEFL education, but instead, I’ve been left with a useless piece of paper and a lot of regret. This program is not internationally accepted, and in my opinion, it does not meet even the most basic industry standards.

If you’re serious about teaching abroad or online, choose a TEFL provider that’s accredited, recognized, and run by professionals. Not someone banned from major platforms for spreading misinformation.

Essential TEFL Tip!

Are you worried about being scammed? TEFL course scams are becoming more sophisticated.

Protect yourself from TEFL scams.

We strongly recommend choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2026:

The 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL Courses in 2026

By choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL Certification Course Programs, you are guaranteed not to be scammed.

Choose a fully accredited and internationally recognized online TEFL/TESOL certification course that you can use for all online and abroad teaching English jobs.

Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews

Read more ESLinsider reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/eslinsider-tefl/

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post Regret Choosing ESLinsider – Useless Certificate and Unprofessional Behavior appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

Are you worried about being scammed? TEFL course scams are becoming more sophisticated!

Protect yourself by reading about the latest TEFL scams in this article:

Online TEFL/TESOL Course Review Scams in 2026

If you are concerned about becoming a victim of an Online TEFL/TESOL course scam, we strongly recommend choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2025:

The 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL Courses in 2026

Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews

The post TEFL Course Scams In 2026 – Public Notice! appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

6 TEFL Red Flags – avoid getting scammed on your course purchase.

6 TEFL Red Flags that the TEFL course that you are about to purchase may likely be a TEFL certification scam!

1. The company has a Facebook page but has turned off the Reviews tab.

The manipulation of reviews is a massive issue within the TEFL course industry, and this manipulation shows up in many forms:

1. Almost all of the major TEFL review websites are privately owned and earn money via affiliate marketing – meaning that they exist because of backhanders from the TEFL companies that publish reviews. It is, therefore, in the financial interests of those sites to promote positive reviews – whether real or fake – and discreetly hide the negative reviews.
2. Some TEFL programs employ “Brand Ambassadors” to promote their courses – also through affiliate marketing – and these TEFL program minions will write absolutely anything to get you to buy the TEFL course(s) they are promoting. Sometimes the blogger has taken the course and sometimes they have no experience with it whatsoever.
3. Many review websites, such as Trustpilot, charge companies for the pleasure of being listed. Trustpilot is known for its relaxed attitude to not following up and verifying reviews. Some of the well-known companies that have Trustpilot listings take full advantage of this by flooding their listing with fake reviews. Companies listed on Trustpilot also have the option of paying to have poor reviews deleted.
4. There are also TEFL programs that promote negative SEO, by publishing negative reviews online about their business competitors.
5. Facebook (Meta) has recently been messing around (upgrading) with the Pages experience. this means that now you need to be logged into Facebook to view a company’s reviews. On the mobile version, it is difficult to find the Reviews section. Our advice is to log into Facebook, using a laptop, and check whether a program has its Reviews tab turned on or off. If their Reviews tab is turned off, something fishy is going on.

We don’t allow TEFL companies to manipulate their reviews on Trusted TEFL Reviews and we don’t charge TEFL companies anything for listing their programs.

The only advertising allowed is granted to the TEFL program winner of the annual Teachers’ Choice Award. TEFL Online Pro is the winner of this year’s award, so they have been given the opportunity to promote any TEFL course discounts that they may run during the year. This additional exposure on Trusted TEFL Reviews is without charge for the TEFL program currently enjoying Teachers’ Choice Award winner status.

2. The company is falsifying its accreditation status.

There are legitimate international TEFL accreditation bodies, there are questionable international TEFL accreditation bodies, and there are made-up international TEFL accreditation bodies.

Having worked in the TEFL industry for many years now, it is easy for me to be able to distinguish between all three.

Regarding the latter, you can notice these from a mile away because they almost always tend to show generic stock footage photos of businesspeople in boardrooms, wearing suits, and looking very serious about some type of business issue.

The people who run reputable TEFL accreditation bodies don’t hang around all day in boardrooms, wearing business suits.

To save yourself a whole load of wasted time and effort, we strongly recommend that you read the TEFL Accreditation Guide before parting ways with your hard-earned cash:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-accreditation-guide/

3. Level 5 TEFL courses.

Five years ago, no one had heard of a “Level 5” TEFL course.

You simply chose between an onsite or online TEFL/TESOL/TESL certification course – 120 hours being the industry standard.

Then came along the first few mentions of “Level 5” and more recently it has become very popular to claim that a Level 5 course is the best TEFL course to take.

Employers don’t give two hoots whether you took an over-priced Level 5 TEFL course or not. “Level 5” is just another marketing gimmick – of which there are numerous in this industry.

Employers of teachers online and overseas, and government job visa departments, want to see proof that you have completed a 120-hour TEFL/TESOL certification course.

If you already have teaching experience then a course covering fewer hours will often do, but the industry standard is 120 hours.

Should you wish to, you can also choose a course that adds a practical teaching component to the 120-hour standard regulation – recalculating the total number of hours in the course to a maximum of between 140 and 150.

Any course consisting of more than 120 hours (or between 140-150 hours with the practical teaching component) is unnecessary and won’t, in any way or form, increase your chances of landing a teaching job or getting your work visa.

Also, the Ofqual company that regulates the Level 5 TEFL syllabus – based in the UK – is not an accreditation awarding body. They only regulate the courses. This means that you can pay extra and take a Level 5 TEFL course, but that is no assurance that your certificate will be recognized by online and overseas employers.

It definitely won’t guarantee you better employment prospects over a fully accredited 120-hour TEFL/TESOL course.

In any TEFL job interview situation, it is the 120-hour TEFL/TESOL certification course that you will be asked to provide proof of having taken – i.e., the accepted industry standard.

Our advice is to place less importance on the brand of the TEFL/TESOL qualification and, instead, focus on whether the course is truly internationally recognized.

The vast majority of people reading this article will need to take a 120-hour TEFL/TESOL course to teach English online or overseas.

Take a look at the TEFL Directory for guidance:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/

The top-rated schools in the directory are top-rated for a legitimate reason.

4. The course costs less than $50.

TEFL isn’t rocket science, but it does take relatively thorough training to become a TEFL teacher.

TEFL programs that offer dirt-cheap TEFL courses for under $50 are simply providing you with a piece of paper that says you are a qualified TEFL teacher. Claiming to be a TEFL teacher and having the skills and knowledge to be one are two completely different things.

Our advice is not to go for the cheap TEFL courses.

You should treat your TEFL course as an investment, and not as a shortcut to getting qualified to teach English online or overseas – something you likely won’t be able to do anyway when you invest so little in your online education.

5. TEFL programs that try to undermine the reputation of Trusted TEFL Reviews.

Trusted TEFL Reviews publishes every review that has been proven to come from a reliable source – AKA a real TEFL graduate.

We never delete poor reviews – although we are constantly asked to do so – and some TEFL companies that are so used to manipulating their customer reviews online choose to try and undermine the reputation of Trusted TEFL Reviews when we refuse to delete a poor review, or when we refuse to publish a review that has been written by a TEFL school’s staff member.

We recommend reading the Common TEFL Scams article to learn more about this:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/03/30/common-tefl-scams/

6. The TEFL course is free.

We have noticed that a few relatively new online TEFL/TESOL programs are advertising their courses as “free”.

Given that businesses tend to traditionally operate on a business model whereby they create revenue in exchange for services rendered, our attention was piqued by this apparent middle finger to traditional business model marketing.

So, we did a bit of digging around to see how a business could run a profit by offering a free TEFL course.

We conclude that the so-called “free” course is just a front for charging you throughout the course in the form of unexpected, hidden charges.

We also noticed that the free TEFL courses – all of them – are not accredited.

7. Bonus Red Flag: Affiliate Marketing.

The TEFL Affiliate Marketing Scam is a massive issue within the TEFL industry.

These TEFL program sales minions are extremely adept at stretching the truth and creating false narratives.

If you stumble across their website or blog, you will read about how such and such a program (always a program they earn affiliate marketing sales commissions from) is the best choice, and how such and such a program (always a competitor that doesn’t do affiliate marketing) is a scam or just not trustworthy.

If you believe their shtick and enroll in one of the courses that they are promoting, you will likely end up paying for a subpar TEFL course that isn’t fully accredited, and the friendly person recommending the program(s) will stand to earn a sizable sales commission.

No reputable, fully accredited TEFL/TESOL certification course program operates via an affiliate’s marketing campaign model. They just can’t because their accreditation codes of practice don’t allow it.

We recommend reading the TEFL Affiliate Marketing Scam article to learn more about this:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/02/07/tefl-affiliate-marketing-scam/

This ‘6 TEFL Red Flags’ article was written by Mia Williams, co-owner of Trusted TEFL Reviews (TTR) | Best Featured TEFL Articles

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

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The post 6 TEFL Red Flags | How To Spot Them appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

The article begins under the two following advertising banners.

Banner #1 is for a limited-time discount from TEFL Online Pro – winner of the 2025 Teachers’ Choice Award. The winner of the Teachers’ Choice award may, at their discretion, advertise for free on Trusted TEFL Reviews for as long as they are the holder of this prestigious award.

Banner #2 is the current list of the 5 Best online TEFL/TESOL certification courses, based on verified student reviews. If in doubt, choose from one of the 5 Best course programs because they are all internationally recognized and reputable companies.

Both banners represent top-rated online TEFL and TESOL certification course programs.

Online TEFL TESOL course review scams in 2026.

(Updated: December 21, 2025)

This is a must-read article if you are choosing which TEFL course to take and are confused by which ones are legitimate and which ones are scams.

The scams are becoming more and more sophisticated.

To prevent your TEFL dream turning into a TEFL nightmare, we strongly recommend that you read this article in full.

Online TEFL TESOL Scam TEFL programs.

Currently, the more notable scam TEFL companies are ESLinsider, ITTT International TEFL and TESOL Training, MyTEFL, The TEFL Academy, and World TESOL Academy.

1. ESLinsider

ESLinsider (Ian Patrick Leahy) portrays himself as a TEFL whistleblower and he trashes almost every TEFL program online for seemingly altruistic motives, but his endgame is to sell you one TEFL course – his TEFL course. Among a long list of criminal activity, he was recommending TEFL students without college degrees to buy fake ones online. Some people followed his advice and (in China) were arrested, fined, deported. Ian is currently wanted by the Chinese authorities and is essentially on the lamb, living a transient life in the United States. Ian was banned from Facebook for spreading misinformation and disinformation way back in 2017. https://www.eslinsider.com/

2. ITTT International TEFL and TESOL Training

ITTT International TEFL and TESOL Training operates under more than 20 different websites. Each one looks similar, but is different just enough so that you would be forgiven into believing that one website is a different company from another website. This company has a bogus accreditation from a website that spells it as “Accredidation”. Affiliate marketing is their lean and they have one favorite who will say and write anything to get you to make the purchase: Linda Dunsmore. ITTT will take your money, give you access to a subpar course, fail to respond to online tutor requests, and ghost you when it comes time for the advertised “free” job-finding help – unless you pay through the nose for their job placement services, which you are recommended to avoid like the plague.

3. MyTEFL

MyTEFL used to be accredited by OTTSA (a website they created) and are now accredited by a bogus company: International TEFL Accreditation Council (ITEFLAC). Folks, official accreditation company website’s don’t have stock images of business people in office boardrooms. MyTEFL offer affordable TEFL courses, but they make their real money from paid job placement services. Do not pay for this service. If you do, when you receive your weekly or monthly teaching pay, without realizing it at first, MyTEFL will be skimming up to 25% off. And what can you do about it when you have locked yourself into a job contract with a language school through MyTEFL? https://mytefl.com/

4. The TEFL Academy (TTA)

The TEFL Academy (TTA) is a truly corrupt corporate company. They claim to be the “Worlds #1 TEFL Course Provider!” They are not. And, despite their many claims, they are not accredited. The TEFL Academy claims to be accredited by AQC, DEAC, QUALIFI, and even by Ofqual. It is only regulated by Ofqual and QUALIFI, and it also appears that QUALIFI might have been created by the good folks at The TEFL Academy. AQC is a sister website of DEAC, and you can see that The TEFL Academy is not accredited by DEAC because DEAC has a search feature that shows all the companies that it accredits – The TEFL Academy is not listed. As with ITTT, The TEFL Academy pays affiliate marketers to promote its courses. More about this below. https://www.theteflacademy.com/

5. World TESOL Academy

World TESOL Academy is likewise shady as hell. They offer TEFL courses for $38 and this appears to lure in a lot of unsuspecting folk. After you pay, you get bombarded with requests to become one of their affiliate marketers. Students rate the course as “terrible” and a bit like flying with Ryanair, with a smorgasbord of hidden fees and additional costs. World TESOL Academy is accredited by Accreditat and CPD that are pay-for-accreditation companies that are not recognized by any reputable language schools. Another red flag is that they have the Reviews tab disabled on their Facebook page. https://www.worldtesolacademy.com/

How TEFL companies scam you.

Besides the above mentioned scams, there are some complex ways in which some TEFL companies will scam you.

And the sophistication of the scams is intensifying.

TEFL Review Website Bedfellows

Go Abroad, Go Overseas and TEFL Course Review are the three biggest TEFL review websites. They each make their money from charging TEFL companies for a listing on their site – the TEFL companies are their customers – and it is in their best financial interests to have positive reviews about (fill in the blank) TEFL company than to have bad reviews published. This is why a company like The TEFL Academy has a high review score on all three websites – they make certain that negative reviews of them are minimized and they are free to have fake positive reviews appear on all three sites, and on the other review sites where they have a listing. Incidentally, The TEFL Academy has a lot of money at their disposal and frequently sue individuals and companies if they dare to publish something negative about them. Trusted TEFL Reviews published a few negative student reviews of The TEFL Academy and we were warned that if they were not taken down, they would sue us. We simply responded that the reviews will remain published because they were written by students of their program.

Affiliate Marketing

If you see an individual excessively promoting a TEFL program – with or without a coupon code for a discount – it will certainly be an affiliate marketer. Caitriona McTiernan and Megan Broccoli are the two main ones for The TEFL Academy and Linda Dunsmore heads the ITTT affiliate marketing side of the business. A large majority of TEFL programs belong to affiliate marketing companies, paying people who have never taken their courses to promote them online and earn money for themselves in the process. They will say and write absolutely anything (“the course was AMAZING!”) to make the sell, such as promises of earning $100 per hour for teaching English online. No one earns anywhere near to $100 teaching English online.

Trashing A Business Competitor

In the Wild West of online TEFL, anything goes. It’s very common for TEFL companies to trash each other online. They create fake profiles and then write fake complaints and fake reviews – misinformation and disinformation – on complaints websites and Reddit. And TEFL programs with deep pockets, such as The TEFL Academy, have now started to pay people to take a competitor’s course and then slam it online. This is cruel and clever because the person can show that they have a certificate from the TEFL company and can write exactly what the company tells them to write. A recent case involved one of the affiliate marketers from The TEFL Academy – Megan Broccoli – who purchased a TEFL Online Pro course, completed it, claimed after an hour of course completion that she couldn’t use the certificate, and began spreading her message on Reddit and elsewhere that the company is a scam. Something similar also happened to OISE University of Toronto TEFL and CIEE TEFL. CIEE TEFL, OISE University of Toronto TEFL and TEFL Online Pro are among the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification courses.

Reddit

When Online TEFL/TESOL courses were gaining traction about 15 years ago, in response to the established in-person TEFL/TESOL course industry, a few of them set up Reddit communities – communities that they used and continue to use to push their agenda. This tends to focus on trashing their competitors and clandestinely promoting their courses. We recommend avoiding Reddit for Online TEFL/TESOL course information because of this, and because of the vast number of TEFL shills active on the site.

Niche subreddits, such as online course communities, are often run by people with a vested interest in promoting certain courses—for which they receive a financial kickback. This often leads them to delete positive comments about any business competitors of the courses from which they receive kickbacks.

The r/TEFL subreddit is well known for this type of behavior—they allow positive comments for their favored TEFL companies but prevent students of some other TEFL programs from posting honest reviews of their course experiences. They even have a Reddit Wiki page that clearly demonstrates the quid pro quo partnership they maintain with certain programs.

Trashing Trusted TEFL Reviews

It must be so frustrating for the many TEFL programs that don’t have the kind of power over Trusted TEFL Reviews that they lord over other TEFL review websites. So what do they do? They spread misinformation and disinformation about me and Trusted TEFL Reviews because they just can’t handle having even one or two negative reviews published online about them. By trying to discredit this website, they hope that people won’t believe the reviews of their program. All TEFL programs listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews have a free listing and all TEFL programs are free to respond to reviews and to add comments.

The TEFL Wall of Shame.

Important Clarifying Information.

Several points need addressing, and I will write about each one separately:

The Teachers’ Choice Award

Several Online TEFL companies are claiming that the Teachers’ Choice Award is fake. It isn’t. We created the Teachers’ Choice Award back in 2019, after noticing that other mainstream TEFL review websites had also created their awards. The fundamental difference between our award and the awards of other mainstream TEFL review websites is that the winner of the Teachers’ Choice Award is based on merit alone – voted for by language schools, universities, TEFL students, and TEFL graduates. If a company has won an award from a mainstream TEFL review website, it means they have likely paid for the privilege of “winning” that award.

TEFL Online Pro

TEFL Online Pro (https://teflonlinepro.com/) has won the Teachers’ Choice Award for seven consecutive years – they are the highest-rated in 2026. They have won the award every year because they were the Online TEFL/TESOL program that received the most votes. Trusted TEFL Reviews does not own TEFL Online Pro, just as it doesn’t own the other four Online TEFL/TESOL programs that currently hold the place of being one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL programs. Trusted TEFL Reviews is an independent Online TEFL/TESOL reviews website. We are not affiliated with any TEFL/TESOL program listed on the Trusted TEFL Reviews website.

Trusted TEFL Reviews is a not-for-profit website

Contrary to what some Online TEFL programs claim, it doesn’t cost anything to list your Online TEFL/TESOL program on Trusted TEFL Reviews. Also, we don’t allow any paid advertising because we feel that it could present a conflict of interest. The only advertising allowed is granted to the TEFL program winner of the annual Teachers’ Choice Award. TEFL Online Pro (https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-reviews-in-2025/) is the winner of this year’s award, so they have been allowed to promote any TEFL course discounts that they may run during the year. This additional exposure on Trusted TEFL Reviews is without charge for the TEFL program currently enjoying Teachers’ Choice Award winner status.

I am not a man

I identify as a woman because I am a woman, living and teaching English in Vienna, Austria. Contrary to what some Online TEFL/TESOL companies have written about me online, I am not a “man”, I am not a “dyke”, and I am not a “b!tch”. I am a mother. I co-own Trusted TEFL Reviews with my partner and we run Trusted TEFL Reviews together, from our apartment in Vienna. We also have a small office within the city limits that we visit mostly during the summer months when the air-con in the office is a welcome respite. We also run the Teachers’ Choice Award from this office. It is no Online TEFL/TESOL program’s beeswax what our addresses are and we both feel safer not disclosing our addresses. I have received threats in the past simply because I wouldn’t delete a negative review written about one of the TEFL programs listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

We never delete reviews from Trusted TEFL Reviews, unless the review is later found to be fake

Online TEFL/TESOL course programs are the customers of the mainstream Online TEFL/TESOL review websites. The programs pay a yearly fee to be listed on the review website, and this is how those review websites generate the majority of their commercial income. Those review websites have a strong financial incentive to hide negative reviews and hold almost no verification process for publishing positive reviews – the vast majority of which are written by the TEFL company. Trusted TEFL Reviews has a strong verification process in place and we only publish reviews that have been proven to have been written by a real TEFL student. This has infuriated a few Online TEFL/TESOL companies – companies that are used to chalking up fake 5-star reviews on those mainstream TEFL review platforms.

We allow all of the TEFL companies listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews to respond to reviews

All Online TEFL/TESOL companies listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews are free to respond to any review published about their program. The vast majority of programs choose not to, but some do. The most prolific company to respond to reviews – responding to every review they receive – is TEFL Online Pro. This company is proactive and recognizes the importance of thanking customers for writing positive reviews and addressing any issues presented by negative reviews. If an Online TEFL company writes that they tried responding to a review but were unsuccessful in doing so, it is a flat-out lie.

Russian review websites

A few months ago, an Online TEFL/TESOL company reached out to me – a company not listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews – complaining that their business wasn’t doing so well. They blamed their dwindling revenue on the many cheap Online TEFL/TESOL programs undercutting them with lower prices. They suggested that they would “handle the Google Ads campaigns” of those programs through a process known as click fraud. They also suggested that I should write some damning reviews about those programs on complaintsboard.com. I refused the offer and told the individual to focus on improving their course offerings and customer services. complaintsboard.com, dirtyscam.com, and ripoffreport.com are all Russian-owned websites. They may claim otherwise, but they operate outside of countries where they can be held accountable for the defamatory material that they allow to be published on their websites. I read one recent “complaint” that TEFL Online Pro is offering courses illegally and not paying their taxes. This, of course, is just fiction. I also read another “complaint” where someone had written that OISE University of Toronto TEFL is a scam and their certificates are not valid internationally. Also, fictitious. The rogue Online TEFL/TESOL companies use these websites to badmouth their business competitors because all you need to do to have your review published is to verify your email address – using any name to create an account. Those Russian websites feel protected from legal repercussions and they are the go-to websites for the dregs of the Online TEFL/TESOL certification course world.

TEFL companies that want to take over the world

The TEFL Academy (https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/the-tefl-academy/) is the perfect example of a company that wants it all, and they are willing to break all the better business rules to achieve their objective. We began listing this program on Trusted TEFL Reviews a few years ago. Within a couple of days, we received an avalanche of 5-star reviews for them, but not one of the reviewers was willing to prove course participation in The TEFL Academy program. They were fake reviews. We also have it on good word that this company reaches out to its graduates and offers them a free mini TEFL course if they write a positive review. This is why there is such a disconnect between their reviews on Trusted TEFL Reviews and their reviews on Facebook, Trustpilot, etc. World TESOL Academy (https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/world-tesol-academy/) is also guilty of this shameless and flagrant middle finger to the better business rules. They claim to be the “Worlds #1 TEFL Course Provider.” This obviously isn’t true, as are many other claims on their website.

Our advice for Online TEFL/TESOL companies

Interact with your customers! If you receive a positive review, thank the customer for spending their time to review your program. If you receive a negative review, apologize and try to right a wrong. Don’t write false sh*t about me or Trusted TEFL Reviews just because you got some negative feedback.

Our advice for Online TEFL/TESOL students

The Online TEFL/TESOL industry is unregulated and highly competitive. Some companies will swear blind to you that you need to take their course because it has more hours or because it has won so many awards. The Teachers’ Choice Award is the only Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program award that cannot be bought. The industry standard is a 120-hour TEFL/TESOL certification course (140 hours if it includes 20 teaching practice hours). You don’t need more training hours because those extra hours are meaningless for TEFL employers. If you pay less than US$100 for a 120-hour Online TEFL/TESOL certification course, you WILL regret it.

Accreditation

To prevent you from becoming a victim of a TEFL scam, we recommend that you choose a Fully Accredited TEFL/TESOL certification course provider.

The most well-known accreditation companies – offering Full Accreditation:

ACCET – Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training.

ACTEFLC – Accreditation Council for Teaching English as a Foreign Language Courses.

OISE – University of the Toronto Faculty of Education.

TESL Canada

University of Cambridge’s English Language Assessment

If you read anything negative about these organizations online, it has been written by an Online TEFL/TESOL program – a program that likely has no accreditation itself or one that simply pays a dodgy accreditation company an annual fee.

You can see which companies are Fully Accredited and internationally recognized by looking through the program listings in the TEFL Course Directory:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/

The top-rated schools in the directory are top-rated for a legitimate reason.

The low-rated schools in the directory are low-rated for a legitimate reason.

Be smart. Don’t fall for the disinformation and misinformation.

Trusted TEFL Reviews

If and when we are notified of shady practices or even outright scams, we will post details of them in the Online TEFL Course Scams section of this website.

This ‘Online TEFL Course Reviews Scams’ article was originally written and published by Mia Williams, co-owner of Trusted TEFL Reviews (TTR) | Best Featured TEFL Articles

Related articles:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/03/30/6-tefl-red-flags/

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/03/30/common-tefl-scams/

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

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ESLinsider review, submitted by Caroline.

Even though I don’t usually write poor reviews for companies, I feel completely overwhelmed by the sheer audacity of the ESLinsider TEFL course.

Was going down the @ rabbit hole, as you do, and came across the ESLinsider website. It comes across as being a sort of fact-checking vigilante website for everything TEFL. It appears that a guy by the name of ‘Ian Leahy’ runs the site.

After spending what took up most of a weekend reading through his many articles and watching his YouTube videos, I decided to take the sites advice and sign up for a TEFL TEKA course.

I was so worried about getting scammed and ESLinsider seemed like it was a legit source of information.

Now, I’m feeling embarrassed with myself for falling for this trap.

ESLinsider is basically a website that produces misinformation articles about other TEFL programs.

The guy is good at convincing you with what seem like facts but which are really just made-up lies so you then feel that the ESLinsider TEFL course must be a safe bet option.

If your idea of of good TEFL course is paying a few hundred bucks for a collection of PDF files then feel free to go ahead and pay ESLinsider money for a course which isn’t even accredited.

I’m lucky because I got my money back via a chargeback. Many others haven’t been so lucky as I now realize after reading reviews of the ESLinsider TEFL course.

My advice, if you are considering this program, is to read his customer reviews that he openly writes are fake. Believe me. They are not fake. Oh Lord, how does he get away with it???!!!

Read more ESLinsider reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

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TEFL Affiliate Marketing Scam

The TEFL Affiliate Marketing Scam is a massive issue within the TEFL industry.

Every month, thousands of TEFL students get conned out of their hard-earned savings via false advertising and misleading information.

What is affiliate marketing?

“Affiliate marketing is an advertising model in which a company compensates third-party publishers to generate traffic or leads to the company’s products and services. The third-party publishers are affiliates, and the commission fee incentivizes them to find ways to promote the company.” – Investopedia.

This means that in an ideal world, a TEFL graduate promotes the TEFL program they took online (because they genuinely thought it was excellent and useful) and in return, they receive a commission from the TEFL program.

Why is it a scam?

The TEFL industry is highly competitive, with big money to be made from selling and promoting TEFL courses, and this has created a niche market for affiliate marketing.

Because of the large sums of money to be made, bad business practices are the rule rather than the exception.

Some common examples of the TEFL Affiliate Marketing Scam:

1. An affiliate marketer who has never taken a TEFL course wants in on some of the TEFL money. They start promoting one (or more) TEFL courses and to do so they hype up the benefits of taking the TEFL program – such as lying about its accreditation status. The affiliate marketer begins to earn a steady stream of income, but graduates of the program soon discover that the TEFL course and end certificate are not as “internationally recognized” or “amazing” as they were led to believe.

2. An affiliate marketer starts as a genuine TEFL program graduate. They believe in the program that they are promoting, but they could make so much more money if they were to promote other TEFL programs as well. They start promoting more and more TEFL programs, without having any direct experience with those programs, and end up falling into the same moral bankruptcy stage as the affiliate marketer in example (1.) – hyping up TEFL programs with false claims.

3. An affiliate marketer has been promoting various TEFL programs for a while now, but they still have the desire to earn more money. The problem is, that no more TEFL programs are willing to partner with them. They get around this by publishing false and misleading content about the business competition of the programs for which they earn money. This way, the affiliate marketer’s website shows up in the Google search results for the TEFL programs that they are trashing online, and they can convince the new traffic to take one of the courses that they earn an affiliate’s commission instead.

How can I detect whether a website owner is an affiliate marketer?

This is pretty easy to detect.

All affiliate marketers have one thing on their minds: convince you to take a TEFL program that they are going to earn a commission on.

Therefore, you should be EXTREMELY aware of any third-party websites/blogs that promote a TEFL program (or multiple TEFL programs).

Not only will you run a strong risk of purchasing a course that is being falsely advertised, but you will also be inadvertently paying a percentage of your TEFL course fee to the affiliate marketer.

The TEFL programs that are notorious for selling their TEFL courses via affiliate marketers are:

International TEFL Academy | i to i TEFL | MyTEFL | ITTT TEFL | Premier TEFL | The TEFL Academy

None of these TEFL programs is fully accredited, and yet they remain popular TEFL programs – due to the proliferation of their affiliate marketers.

In addition, and something that is a low moral bar, quite a few of the TEFL review websites earn their money via affiliate marketing.

This means that a TEFL reviews website that might appear to be an industry authority, will be deleting negative reviews behind the scenes and allowing fake positive reviews to be published on their site because they earn money from the TEFL programs that they have listed.

Trusted TEFL Reviews has a zero-tolerance policy for affiliate marketing.

There is zero affiliate marketing on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

We don’t allow TEFL companies to manipulate their reviews on Trusted TEFL Reviews, and we don’t charge TEFL companies anything for listing their programs.

The only advertising allowed is granted to the TEFL program winner of the annual Teachers’ Choice Award. TEFL Online Pro is the winner of this year’s award, so they have been allowed to promote any TEFL course discounts that they may run during the year. This additional exposure on Trusted TEFL Reviews is without charge for the TEFL program currently enjoying Teachers’ Choice Award winner status.

Other than this one advertising benefit, no other advertising, in any form, is allowed on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

How can I avoid this scam entirely?

The most reputable TEFL companies (the ones that are fully accredited and internationally recognized) are not known for employing the services of affiliate marketers.

They choose not to largely because they are not allowed to by the accreditation bodies that fully accredit them. It simply isn’t possible for them to risk placing their online marketing in the control of a third-party individual.

Therefore, we don’t recommend purchasing your TEFL course via the TEFL affiliate marketer because you will likely end up investing in a course that is claimed to be “Fully Accredited” but is without fully accredited status.

Trusted TEFL Reviews is an independently run Online TEFL/TESOL reviews website. We are not affiliated, in any way, with any of the Online TEFL/TESOL certification programs listed on this site.

Only the winner of the Teachers’ Choice Award is granted the ability to publish the award on their school website, and they also enjoy a whole year’s free exposure on Trusted TEFL Reviews, where they may post, for example, any current course discounts or promotions on the Trusted TEFL Reviews website.

Can you recommend me a TEFL course to take?

We are asked this question a lot.

Trusted TEFL Reviews is an unbiased TEFL/TESOL certification reviews website and we do not specifically recommend any of the TEFL/TESOL programs listed.

What we do recommend, however, is taking a look at the TEFL Directory for guidance:

The best-rated schools in the directory are top-rated for a legitimate reason.

One final point worth noting

In the TEFL world, there is one individual who is notorious for writing trash about any program or institution that he sees as being an existential threat to his TEFL program livelihood.

His name is Ian Leahy, and he clandestinely runs the ESLinsider TEFL program.

I write “clandestinely” because he tries to portray an image online of being an impartial TEFL expert.

In reality, he is just trying to sell his (unaccredited) TEFL program.

Having already been banned from Facebook, for repeatedly publishing false and misleading content (and having had some of his videos taken down from YouTube) he now resorts to publishing attack articles on his school blog – mirroring the end development stage of the affiliate marketer.

Choose any reputable TEFL program or accreditation website: Ian will have written some outright rubbish about it at some time.

Here is a classic example of ESLinsider at work:

Like the later-stage affiliate marketer, Ian Leahy also does this to drive traffic to his website, where he sells a subpar TEFL program.

Conclusion

Despite the many scams out there, there are a handful or two excellent TEFL/TESOL programs available to take online.

You just need to be aware that the TEFL programs that are not fully accredited are the ones either hyping up their TEFL programs or trashing their competitors.

Trusted TEFL Reviews is one of the few TEFL review websites that will only publish verified TEFL student/graduate reviews. We also never delete a review – even if a TEFL program tries its best to have it deleted.

The result of this is that we tend to be favored by reputable TEFL programs, and singled out for “special treatment” by the less reputable ones.

One of the classic moves by a less reputable TEFL program, when they are notified that a review will not be deleted, is to try and reduce the credibility of Trusted TEFL Reviews.

They hope, by doing so, that people will be less inclined to believe their bad review(s).

Therefore, a final tip is to be extremely skeptical of any TEFL program that goes out of its way – often via an affiliate marketer – to try and discredit Trusted TEFL Reviews.

Over the years, we have seen how some TEFL programs have tried to spread the false info that we are owned by such and such a TEFL program.

So far (and I have been counting) it has been claimed that we are owned by 7 separate TEFL programs.

Trusted TEFL Reviews is in no way affiliated or connected with, or owned by, any of the TEFL programs listed on trustedteflreviews.com.

If a TEFL program is rated high, they are rated so because of genuine (verified) customer feedback.

If a TEFL program is rated low, they are rated so because of genuine (verified) customer feedback.

This TEFL Affiliate Marketing Scam article has been written by Mia Williams – co-owner of trustedteflreviews.com

Essential TEFL Tip!

Are you worried about being scammed? TEFL course scams are becoming more sophisticated.

Protect yourself from TEFL scams.

We strongly recommend choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2026:

The 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL Courses in 2026

By choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL Certification Course Programs, you are guaranteed not to be scammed.

Choose a fully accredited and internationally recognized online TEFL/TESOL certification course that you can use for all online and abroad teaching English jobs.

Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

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4 Worst TEFL Courses 2026, written by Mia Williams – co-founder of Trusted TEFL Reviews.

December 8, 2025 Notice:

It has been brought to our attention that ITTT TEFL, My TEFL, and TTA The TEFL Academy have been offering their TEFL graduates free “bonus” courses (which are worthless) in return for writing a positive review on their Facebook pages and on the other review websites where they have hundreds of positive reviews.

This is the reason why ITTT TEFL, My TEFL, and TTA The TEFL Academy have such awful reviews on trustedteflreviews.com and amazing reviews on other platforms. This is a scam.

There are some excellent Online TEFL/TESOL certification course options out there, and there are some that you should avoid.

The best Online TEFL/TESOL certification courses come with excellent support and offer certificates that are Fully Accredited and internationally recognized.

The worst Online TEFL/TESOL certification courses lack sufficient student support and lack international recognition.

Here are the 4 worst TEFL courses in 2026, in all their upside down glory – starting at the 4th worst and continuing down to the worst of the worst:

4. ITTT International TEFL and TESOL Training

There are a few stand-out issues with the ITTT TEFL program:

1. It employs aggressive affiliate marketers that hype up the course on platforms such as Quora. The most prolific of these is Linda Dunsmore – Marketing Manager at (yep, you guessed right) ITTT. Linda spams Quora with helpful posts about how she was an ITTT graduate and how the course worked for her. What she doesn’t come clean about, though, is that she is on the ITTT management marketing team.
2. ITTT doesn’t just have one program website. Instead, it has more than 10 of them. They all look similar, but each contains slightly different claims and each looks different enough that the waters are muddied when it comes to pinpointing the true identity of the core company website.
3. ITTT is a company headquartered in Thailand, and they are accredited by some pretty dodgy accreditation companies. One of these is OTTSA, and another is The Teacher Training Council. Both are registered in Thailand, and both have been exposed as fake accreditation websites. The Teacher Training Council can’t even spell “Accreditation” correctly. They spell it, “AccrediDation”.

ITTT International TEFL and TESOL Training is Accredited but is not Fully Accredited.

You can read further information about ITTT, including verified customer reviews, in the Trusted TEFL Reviews ITTT TEFL category: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/ittt/

3. MyTEFL

MyTEFL exploded into the Online TEFL training arena about 5 or 6 years ago.

It claims to have been around for a lot longer, but 5 or 6 years is a more realistic and honest assessment.

Students tend to like the course.

That’s where the positives end.

1. MyTEFL is propped up by a fake accreditation body ( Online TESOL and TEFL Standards Agency – OTTSA) and another one that they recently created: the International TEFL Accreditation Council – ITEFLAC. New! MyTEFL is now also “accredited” by the International Council for Online Educational Standards (ICOES). ICOES also accredits such bastions of international education including, but not limited to, ‘Permanent Jewelry Bestie’ and ‘spray tan class’.
2. Graduates regularly complain that they were ripped off by bait-and-switch scams on the job placements abroad that they accepted through MyTEFL and its parent company, Footprints Language Education Ltd. Teachers arrived to find that the accommodation and pay weren’t as promised, and some discovered that a percentage of their monthly salary was being deducted and paid back to MyTEFL/Footprints Language Education Ltd.
3. MyTEFL has tried to have fake reviews published on Trusted TEFL Reviews and reacted very poorly when we refused to publish these unverified “customer” reviews. Its response was to launch a campaign against us, claiming that this review website is biased toward certain TEFL programs. They even went so far as to claim that Trusted TEFL Reviews is owned by OISE University of Toronto TEFL and/or TEFL Online Pro. Yep, the true sign of a reputable company is to attack the reviews site that refused to publish its fake “customer” reviews.

MyTEFL is Accredited but is not Fully Accredited.

You can read further information about MyTEFL, including verified customer reviews, in the Trusted TEFL Reviews MyTEFL category: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/mytefl-blacklisted-warning/

2. TTA The TEFL Academy

This company is a car crash waiting to happen, so go grab your popcorn and a comfy couch.

TTA The TEFL Academy claims to be “Fully Accredited” by a few organizations, with one of these being DEAC.

We sent out an inquiry to DEAC yesterday, and they responded that TTA The TEFL Academy is not accredited by them.

The helpful people at DEAC directed us to a page on their website, where the public can check whether a TEFL program is listed in their database.

Here is that link: https://www.deac.org/Student-Center/Directory-Of-Accredited-Institutions.aspx

1. TTA The TEFL Academy claims to be accredited by AQC, DEAC, QUALIFI, and even by Ofqual. It is accredited by no company. It is only regulated by Ofqual and QUALIFI, and it also appears that QUALIFI might have been created by the good folks at TTA The TEFL Academy.
2. TTA the TEFL Academy has tried to have its staff-written reviews published on Trusted TEFL Reviews. Last year, one of its full-time Brand Ambassador employees became infuriated with me because I wouldn’t publish her review that read like a TTA TEFL brochure. What was her response? She said that Trusted TEFL Reviews is biased and began writing rubbish about me and my reviews site online. Oh, and, of course, she claims that Trusted TEFL Reviews is owned by TEFL Online Pro because it is the top-rated program on this site currently. And all because we wouldn’t publish her review.
3. Despite having its headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, TTA The TEFL Academy certificates are not recognized for English teaching jobs in Ireland. In Malta neither. The one place where you are guaranteed to be able to use your TTA The TEFL Academy certificate is in the UK. Reviewers have complained about not being able to use their TTA The TEFL Academy certificates for some online teaching jobs and some overseas jobs.
4. TTA The TEFL Academy aggressively promotes itself through a network of affiliate marketers – people who may or may not have taken one of its courses. These marketing minions earn a 20% referral fee every time someone books a TTA The TEFL Academy course through their affiliate website. This is one of the reasons why we feel that TTA The TEFL Academy courses are overpriced.

TTA The TEFL Academy is Unaccredited. It is neither Accredited nor Fully Accredited.

The TEFL Academy, via its network of Brand Ambassadors, aggressively pushes the notion that it is fully accredited and aggressively pushes the notion that some of the reputable organizations that are competitors are Fully Accredited are, in fact, fake. I hear defamation lawsuit bells ringing!

You can read further information about TTA The TEFL Academy, including verified customer reviews, in the Trusted TEFL Reviews The TEFL Academy category: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/the-tefl-academy/

1. ESLinsider

The popcorn and couch time might have already passed with this program because our research has shown that ESLinsider is not a full-time-functioning TEFL program anymore.

I spent a lazy Sunday searching through the many Reddit user names of the owner of ESLinsider TEFL (Ian Patrick Leahy) and I read how he returned from Japan to New Hampshire because his website wasn’t doing so well. In the two years since then, Ian has worked on ski and snowboarding slopes in New Hampshire and Montana.

It appears that he is now planning on working a summer season this year in Oregon.

I also read some of Ian’s Reddit questions – enquiring about traveling to either Chile or New Zealand for under-the-table paid work.

Why does ESLinsider come in at number 1 for the worst TEFL courses in 2026?

1. Ian Patrick Leahy began the ESLinsider TEFL program because he hated teaching English and wanted to earn a quick buck by running online TEFL courses, which he called TEKA courses. The problem was that he didn’t have enough experience or knowledge to even teach, never mind running a training program. This didn’t deter Ian and he soldiered on, creating linguistic minefield disasters as his objective grew.
2. He was clever in one respect. He created a blog for ESLinsider, where he tried to convey the impression that he was an ESL expert. He also “reviewed” his competitor’s TEFL programs (which he never even paid and took) and wrote critical feedback on them – all the while linking back to his blog and to his ESLinsider course. This meant that you could Google any well-known Online TEFL program and you would see ESLinsider’s take on it. The obvious reason for spending so much of his time doing this was that he hoped to convince people that his TEFL course was better and that they should pay him to take his course. His MO is to claim that such and such a course or person is a “scam”, “fake”, “fraud”, etc. He also went after reputable accreditation bodies – after all, his courses were unaccredited so he had to try and angle it that accreditation bodies are all fake.
3. Ian (ESLinsider) was the first TEFL program that we received a fake review and it was the first time that a TEFL program retaliated against us for not publishing its fake review. Ian Patrick Leahy from ESLinsider was the person who began the misinformation that Trusted TEFL Reviews is biased and owned by CIEE TEFL, OISE University of Toronto TEFL, and TEFL Online Pro. Of course, this is not true.
4. He is also alleged to have conned his paying customers out of their money. This is one example of a group of Ian Patrick Leahy’s ESLinsider TEFL students, who were left out of pocket by Ian:

ESLinsider is Unaccredited. It is neither Accredited nor Fully Accredited.

You can read further information about ESLinsider, including verified customer reviews, in the Trusted TEFL Reviews ESLinsider category: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/eslinsider-tefl/

Our Tip!

To avoid falling victim to a TEFL scam, check how high or low a program is ranked in the TEFL Course Directory: https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/

The top-rated schools in the directory are top-rated for a legitimate reason.

You can also check the TEFL Accreditation Guide, to see which organizations provide Fully Accredited certificates: https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-accreditation-guide/

Worst TEFL Courses 2026 related links:

ITTT TEFL Accreditation: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/03/23/ittt-tefl-accreditation/

TTA The TEFL Academy Scam Warning: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2019/03/25/the-tefl-academy-certification-review/

The MyTEFL Scam: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/01/24/the-mytefl-com-scam/

The ESLinsider Scam: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/03/eslinsider-reviews-scam/

Affiliate Marketing Scam: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/02/07/tefl-affiliate-marketing-scam/

December 1st, 2025 Update:

World TESOL Academy must also be added to this Worst TEFL Courses 2026 list:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/world-tesol-academy/

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: Courses Directory

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ESLinsider Warning.

This is yet another warning about the ESLinsider TEFL program.

ESLinsider is run by Ian Patrick Leahy.

Almost every single TEFL program that I have spoken to has said that Ian Leahy is a public menace.

Essential TEFL Tip!

Are you worried about being scammed? TEFL course scams are becoming more sophisticated!

Protect yourself by reading about the latest TEFL scams in this article:

Online TEFL/TESOL Course Review Scams in 2025

If you are concerned about becoming a victim of an Online TEFL/TESOL course scam, we strongly recommend choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2025:

The 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL Courses in 2025

Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews

Why is Ian Leahy from ESLinsider a public menace?

Here are ten reasons why:

1. Ian advised TEFL teachers to teach in China without a college degree or with a fake college degree. A direct result of this poor advice was the imprisonment and subsequent deportation of some TEFL teachers in China.
2. The authorities in China have placed ESLinsider/Ian Leahy on a blacklist. If Ian were to travel to China, he would be arrested and imprisoned.
3. Ian is accused of fraud- stealing the credit card details of some of his customers and using that money for his purchases.
4. Ian’s ESLinsider TEFL course is not accredited and its certificate is not recognized by any reputable English companies or schools.
5. ESLinsider/Ian Leahy was banned from Facebook (2017 onwards) for shilling his program, spamming, and spreading TEFL conspiracy theories.
6. Ian’s ESLinsider business model has a zero budget for paid advertising and marketing. Instead, Ian writes trash about the main players in TEFL. He does this to increase his online footprint and net new customers this way.
7. Fake reviews. Ian writes fake 5-star reviews for his TEFL program.
8. False identities. Ian has numerous identities online. He uses these to attack the main players in TEFL and uses them to shill his TEFL program.
9. Ian Leahy moved back to the USA last year (from Japan) because his ESLinsider TEFL program went bankrupt. He has spent the past winter working on the ski slopes in Idaho/Montana, and this summer Ian is working at a lodge in Oregon.
10. We tracked down some of Ian’s alter egos on Reddit (fake accounts) and saw that he was asking about how to find under-the-table paid work in either Chile or New Zealand.

The following is a heart-breaking first-hand account of the real-world effects of being scammed by ESLinsider/Ian Leahy.

In the period when this account took place, Ian Leahy was falsely claiming that he was a respectable UK-based recruiter for English teachers in Asia.

ESLinsider scams its TEFL customers and also scams other TEFL programs, accreditation bodies, and TEFL review websites.

Ian writes trash about every single TEFL program, about every single accreditation body, and about every single TEFL review website.

He knows that when he does this, his ESLinsider website shows up in the organic Google search for that particular TEFL program, accreditation body, or TEFL review website.

He then hopes to convince people who are new to TEFL that his TEFL course is worth purchasing.

Trusted TEFL Reviews has always responded to any online attacks from Ian Leahy, by simply using Ian’s words against him.

This Trusted TEFL Reviews ESLinsider article is an excellent example:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/03/eslinsider-reviews-scam/

Our ESLinsider warning is something that you should take seriously, to avoid being scammed by Ian Leahy.

Many organizations and individuals have issued their ESLinsider warnings.

ESLinsider/Ian Leahy is a menace to the public.

Buyer beware!

This ‘ESLinsider Warning’ article was written by Mia Williams, Trusted TEFL Reviews co-owner.

Read more ESLinsider reviews

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The post ESLinsider Warning appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

ESLinsider | A Warning for all TEFL/TESOL students and graduates.

We don’t like to issue warnings but there are times when we feel that we have to.

These times are when Trusted TEFL Reviews feels that it is in the public interest to issue a warning.

This is such a time.

ESLinsider is all over the internet.

For those of you who don’t know, ESLinsider is a blog and a TEFL program operated by a guy from Monroe, New Hampshire.

His name is Ian Patrick Leahy.

This is the guy:

In this photo, taken from his ESLinsider blog, Ian Patrick Leahy gives the misguided advice that people shouldn’t bother taking a college degree course.

Essential TEFL Tip!

Are you worried about being scammed? TEFL course scams are becoming more sophisticated!

Protect yourself by reading about the latest TEFL scams in this article:

Online TEFL/TESOL Course Review Scams in 2025

If you are concerned about becoming a victim of an Online TEFL/TESOL course scam, we strongly recommend choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2025:

The 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL Courses in 2025

Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews

Ian is famous in the TEFL world, for all the wrong reasons.

About ten years ago, Ian took a dirt-cheap TEFL course and decided that he could create a better course.

So, he put his skills to work and created a TEFL course which he coined his TEKA course.

To finance the marketing for this TEFL course, he became a prolific blogger, shill, and spammer.

As some TEFL programs have correctly pointed out, Ian and ESLinsider accounts were banned from Facebook because of this shilling and spamming.

If QAnon had a TEFL branch, Ian would be its director.

So many TEFL programs and TEFL accreditation bodies have publicly complained about Ian’s incessant bullying and his non-stop publishing of TEFL conspiracy theories.

Choose any TEFL program or TEFL accreditation body- Ian will have written some garbage online about it.

This was the ESLinsider head office when Ian lived in Japan:

For a while, Ian’s business took off.

He was somehow able to run his business while he lived in and then moved from China to South Korea, and then from Taiwan to Japan.

His big convincer was his blog.

‘ESLinsider’ gives the impression of someone in the know.

The truth is, that Ian has very limited knowledge of TEFL and this has been demonstrated in the teaching videos that he used to upload to his YouTube channel.

It was all about the money.

I don’t think Ian had or has any deep love or attachment to TEFL.

Here is another photo of Ian- also taken in Japan:

Ian went from TEFL program owner to TEFL online teacher.

What happened? Why the fall from grace?

Well, in part, Trusted TEFL Reviews can be thanked for this.

We noticed the growing number of complaints by ESLinsider students.

There were complaints about his customers being defrauded out of their money.

There were complaints about his customers being arrested in China because Ian by then was sought after by the Chinese authorities for fraud. Showing an ESLinsider TEFL certificate at an interview was classed as guilt by association.

There were also complaints about his customers being arrested in China because they took Ian’s advice to buy fake college diplomas.

I’m not making this up, but I do wish I were making it up.

Ian is a menace.

Let’s have another photo of Ian to break up the text in this article.

This one is of Ian teaching Phonics.

The only problem is that he doesn’t have the first clue about phonics:

Someone who does know what phonics is:

So why are we writing this article?

Trusted TEFL Reviews began exposing Ian Leahy two years ago.

And, he DID NOT like it.

He directed his attention away from the TEFL programs and TEFL accreditation bodies that he was destroying online and turned that energy on me and Trusted TEFL Reviews.

His bullying was unbelievable. It was non-stop.

Conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory.

He would write that I was the owner of this and that TEFL program.

A month later, I was the owner of yet another TEFL program.

My name wasn’t Mia.

I was a guy.

And on and on and on and on the garbage spewed from his “office”.

What did I do?

I published an article, exposing Ian.

The article became a mini viral “sensation” in the TEFL world and the result was that Ian went out of business.

He moved back to Monroe, New Hampshire, and began working on the ski slopes there.

Of course, that didn’t stop his harassment of me and most other TEFL programs and TEFL accreditation bodies.

It did, however, slow him down.

Ian is currently working a summer season in Oregon, at one of the lodges there.

On Reddit, he was last seen asking about illegal job opportunities in Chile and New Zealand.

Despite his ESLinsider program being dead in the water, Ian still takes the time to spread his conspiracy theories.

My advice to anyone who reads something that has been written by Ian Patrick Leahy from ESLinsider:

What you are reading has no substance in the real world.

It is just the rantings of a desperate man with a conspiratorial mind.

If you think you are reading something written by Ian Patrick Leahy, you probably are.

He always uses the same style.

Screenshots with line markers added- highlight some nonsense connection that he has made.

As long as Ian believes that he can somehow resurrect his TEFL program from the ashes, he will keep on and on and on and on writing about how bad his competitors are and how fraudulent all the accreditation bodies are.

That, in a nutshell, is Ian Patrick Leahy from ESLinsider.

You can Google search ‘ESLinsider’ and ‘Ian Patrick Leahy TEFL’ for confirmation of what I have written.

Thank you for reading this ESLinsider article.

Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews

Read more ESLinsider reviews.

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The post ESLinsider appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

How to avoid the most common TEFL TESOL certification course scams.

Essential TEFL Tip!

Are you worried about being scammed? TEFL course scams are becoming more sophisticated!

Protect yourself by reading about the latest TEFL scams in this article:

Online TEFL/TESOL Course Review Scams in 2026

If you are concerned about becoming a victim of an Online TEFL/TESOL course scam, we strongly recommend choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2025:

The 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL Courses in 2026

Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews

Common TEFL Scams come in various forms and from various sources. When people think of ‘TEFL Scam’ they usually think first of the scenario where they pay for a TEFL course and receive nothing in return. Thankfully, this is a rare occurrence. You are, however, much more likely to fall victim to a TEFL scam unwittingly- one that you may not discover a victim of until a few months or even a few years later.

This article will look at the most common TEFL Scams and will demonstrate how to avoid these easy-to-miss pitfalls. We will also be highlighting the Online TEFL certification course programs that are well-known in the TEFL industry for their shady business practices. i.e., TEFL programs to avoid.

At the end of this article, we list the Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs that we recommend taking if you are having a hard time deciding on which course to take.

1. Common TEFL Scams – Fake Reviews.

Fake customer reviews are a huge issue across the board for most industries and the world of TEFL is no different. The fakers have been getting more and more sophisticated and it can now be very difficult to distinguish real reviews from fake reviews.

Let’s take a look at one of the worst fake reviews offenders: The TEFL Academy.

The TEFL Academy (TTA) used to be a well-respected Online TEFL TESOL course provider, before 2021, until they brought in a new CEO: Thomas Gibbons. Since Thomas’s appointment, Trusted TEFL Reviews (TTR) has witnessed a substantial overnight increase in “customer reviews” for TTA.

One only needs to look at TTA’s customer reviews on Reviews.io, Trust Pilot, and Hello Peter, to ascertain that something isn’t quite right with the sheer number of 5-star glowing reviews being received all at once for this program, as well as on its Facebook (Meta) page.

How can we be certain that TTA is publishing fake reviews?

Soon after Thomas’s new appointment as CEO at TTA, TTR suddenly began receiving a lot of reviews all at once for TTA’s listing. In one day, if my memory serves me correctly, we received just over 20 reviews for the TEFL Academy program.

Out of those 20 reviews, only four were found to possibly come from a real reviewer. Out of those four, no one returned our email when we requested proof of course enrollment.

It was then that we suddenly stopped receiving so many reviews for this program- until March of this year that is.

In March of 2021, TTR received yet another suspicious TTA review, stuffed with a lot of marketing keywords. The review was submitted by one of their Brand Ambassadors, masquerading as a recently-graduated TTA TEFL student – Caitriona McTiernan.

What does a TEFL Academy Brand Ambassador do? As far as we can gather, it is their job to promote TTA’s courses. In return for their hard work and diligence, they earn a 20% affiliate commission on every TEFL Academy course that is purchased via their recommendation.

TTA’s Brand Ambassadors have demonstrated that they are capable of seriously stretching the truth and can write absolutely anything, without accountability, to earn a juicy 20% affiliate commission fee on every TTA course referral.

And Caitriona earns a ton of money by promoting The TEFL Academy – a UK/Ireland-based TEFL school that rips its customers off through false advertising and likewise false claims.

But, hey, it pays for her trips abroad and I guess she somehow inner justifies the whole shebang. Somehow. I, for one, couldn’t. And neither, I’m assuming, could you.

More about affiliate commissions is in section 2 of this article.

We consider the blatant faking of customer reviews to be a serious red flag.

Whenever we come across examples of this, we always expose the company or individuals behind the fake reviews- as we have done so regarding The TEFL Academy:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2019/03/25/the-tefl-academy-certification-review/

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/05/19/tta-the-tefl-academy/

Incidentally, the path of least resistance for these fake review scammers, when their review is denied publication, is sometimes to claim that Trusted TEFL Reviews is biased. Invariably, the found-out fake reviewer will claim that TTR is owned by such and such a TEFL program- a claim designed to reduce the credibility of TTR and reduce the credibility of them having been exposed as a fake reviewer.

If the TEFL program that they are reviewing tends to receive poor reviews, as The TEFL Academy does, the fake reviewer will also be trying to reduce the credibility of those verified customers’ poor reviews.

Claims made that Trusted TEFL Reviews is a biased reviews website, owned and run by any of the TEFL reviews websites listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews, is a clear sign that the person or company making the claims is trying to cover something up.

Such claims always lead back to an individual representing a TEFL company, or a TEFL company acting in its self-interests. In both cases, the hidden agenda behind such claims stems from a TEFL program with a poor reputation- a poor reputation that they are trying to cover up and conceal from future paying customers.

Trusted TEFL Reviews is an independently run Online TEFL/TESOL reviews website. We are not affiliated, in any way, with any of the Online TEFL/TESOL certification programs listed on this site.

Only the winner of the Teachers’ Choice Award is granted the ability to publish the award on their school website, and they also enjoy a whole year’s free exposure on Trusted TEFL Reviews, where they may post, for example, any current course discounts or promotions on the Trusted TEFL Reviews website.

Tefl Online Pro won this prestigious award in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-reviews-in-2025

If an Online TEFL/TESOL certification program has a high rating on Trusted TEFL Reviews, it means that they are doing something right when it comes to the product it offers and how it treats its customers.

If an Online TEFL/TESOL certification program has a low rating on Trusted TEFL Reviews, it means that they are doing something wrong when it comes to the product it offers and how it treats its customers.

Other programs that have also followed this path of least resistance line of attack, just as The TEFL Academy has done so, are Ian Patrick Leahy from ESLinsider TEFL, Henry Harvin Education, ITTT TEFL, MyTEFL, TEFL Fullcircle, and World TESOL Academy.

What else do these fake-review Online TEFL/TESOL programs have in common?

They all offer unaccredited courses, despite almost all of them claiming to be “accredited” and “international”.

Where is a good source for real TEFL student reviews?

Facebook tends to be a very good source because it has at least some moderation systems put in place, whereby they are able, over time, to delete suspect reviews.

trustedteflreviews.com remains one of the most trusted sources for customer reviews because we are an independent reviews website- meaning that we don’t have a horse in the race and we are free to publish any customer reviews that have been verified as coming from a reliable source.

The verification process for the publication of reviews on TTR includes requesting proof of course enrollment.

All 52 Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs currently listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/

2. Common TEFL Scams – Affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is another major spanner in the works when it comes to the perpetuation of common TEFL scams.

The TEFL course affiliates marketing scam works like this:

Person ‘A’ wants to earn money online. They realize that they can earn money online by recommending a TEFL program and earning a commission on every course purchase that they initiate. The commission rate is usually around 20% of the total course purchase price. Person ‘A’, who has never taken the TEFL course, begins blogging about that TEFL course- claiming that they purchased and took the course, that it was amazing, and that others should also purchase and take the course.

The internet is rife with travel blogs that are signed up to TEFL course affiliate programs.

You can usually recognize them because they have unique names, such as ‘Goats On The Road’, ‘Roaming Vegans’, ‘Two Monkeys Travel Group’, etc.

Some TEFL programs, such as The TEFL Academy, have gone a step further by employing their own ‘brand ambassadors’ to affiliate market their courses for them. In some cases, the brand ambassador will be a graduate of the program, but in other cases, the brand ambassador will have no first-hand knowledge of the course.

Either way, when you are being paid to write only positive things about a product/service because you get to gain from your content, it is highly unlikely that you will be objective in your coverage of the product/service for which you are writing.

Not all TEFL programs have an affiliate marketing program, but the ones that do tend to be programs that you would do best to avoid. MyTEFL and The TEFL Academy are two unaccredited Online TEFL TESOL certification programs that rely heavily on their affiliates’ minions for new paying customers.

Of further concern is that some of the most well-known TEFL course reviews websites, travel abroad/overseas websites, and work abroad/overseas websites are knee-deep in the affiliate’s marketing model- earning an affiliate’s marketing income from TEFL course sales of the programs that they have listed, and which they accept reviews of on their sites.

Affiliate marketing is one of the common TEFL scams. You should most certainly take anything written by an affiliate marketer with extreme skepticism because they often, if not always, have a hidden agenda behind the content that they have written.

3. Common TEFL Scams – Accreditation.

TEFL accreditation is another area in which there lurk Common TEFL Scams.

Because there is not one central accreditation body for Online TEFL TESOL certification courses, there are, instead, a handful of accreditation bodies that fully accredited Online TEFL TESOL certification course programs.

The accreditation bodies authorized to provide Fully Accredited status to Online TEFL TESOL certification course programs:

ACCET – Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training | https://accet.org/

ACTEFLC – Accreditation Council for Teaching English as a Foreign Language Courses | https://www.acteflc.com/

OISE – University of the Toronto Faculty of Education | https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/

TESL Canada | https://tesl.ca/

University of Cambridge’s English Language Assessment | https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/

Online TEFL courses that are directly accredited by the Ministry of Education also enjoy Fully Accredited status.

There are, of course, other “accreditation awarding institutions” out there, such as Accreditat, OTTSA, and ITEFLAC, but they are fake accreditation websites.

Trusted TEFL Reviews ran an article on the OTTSA accreditation scam a while back:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/18/warning-the-ottsa-accrediting-professionals-scam/

MyTEFL started with OTTSA accreditation. As has ITTT TEFL.

About six months after we ran the OTTSA accreditation scam article, MyTEFL also magically gained “accreditation” from ITEFLAC – a website that suspiciously appears to have been created by MyTEFL. MyTEFL is now also “accredited” by the International Council for Online Educational Standards (ICOES). ICOES also accredits such bastions of international education including, but not limited to, ‘Permanent Jewelry Bestie’ and ‘spray tan class’.

MyTEFL and ITTT TEFL issue their course certificates out of Thailand. OTTSA was created by a newbie English teacher, Simon Godwin, who lives in Thailand.

OTTSA is a creation of MyTEFL and ITTT TEFL.

ITEFLAC is so obviously a scam. You only have to look at the website to see that it is a fake accreditation website. Could ITEFLAC also have been created by MyTEFL? Possibly. We definitely wouldn’t put it past them.

The TEFL Academy also lies about its accreditation claims.

On the TTA website, it is claimed that The TEFL Academy is accredited by Ofqual, QUALIFI, DEAC, and AQC.

These are external bodies authorized to regulate education programs, not accredit them.

The TEFL Academy (TTA) is, therefore, heavily regulated, but is not accredited at all.

The lesson to be learned here is that when choosing which Online TEFL TESOL certification course to take, choose a course that is fully accredited by one of the (top) above-mentioned reputable international accreditation bodies.

4. Common TEFL Scams – The ‘That TEFL Course is a scam or fraud’ scam.

When I traveled in India, one of the stand-out annoyances was how whenever I would arrive in a new place, with my mind made up on where I was going to sleep for the night, I was always told by random strangers on the train or bus stations that the place where I had chosen to stay was “bad”, “no longer in business”, or “a scam”.

This would then follow with a recommendation of their own, for a far better place where I should sleep instead.

In 100% of these run-ins with “helpful” strangers, not once was my intended accommodation as was described by them.

This is also a Common TEFL Scam.

Some Online TEFL TESOL programs spend vast amounts of their time spreading fake information online about their competitors, to try and convince people to take their course program instead.

A clear winner in this category is Ian Patrick Leahy, from ESLinsider TEFL.

Ian has carved out a specific niche for himself, whereby he churns out pages and pages of misdirected online content- all with the sole intention of selling more of his unaccredited ESLinsider TEFL /TEKA courses.

In other words, Ian Patrick Leahy is a serial online spammer.

Ian and his ESLinsider TEFL course have been banned from Facebook for this excessive spamming and excessive spreading of false information.

Pick and choose any Online TEFL/TESOL certification program – Ian will have written some trash online about it at some time, on his school blog or YouTube channel.

The major irony is that Ian Leahy from ESLinsider TEFL has been directly linked with the imprisonment of English teachers in China.

Just Google ‘ESLinsider Scams Asia’ and you discover a treasure trove of complaints and warnings.

Ian was not only selling his unaccredited TEFL/TEKA course to unsuspecting people. He was also selling fake college diplomas. The Chinese authorities found out and arrested and then deported anyone they found to have bought a fake college diploma from Ian Leahy/ESLinsider.

There are now warnings issued by various reputable sources – all advising people not to take one of Ian’s ESLinsider TEFL/TEKA courses because if they do, they won’t be eligible for a work visa and might be detained due to association with Ian’s TEFL course.

In addition to this bombshell, it has recently come to light that Ian Leahy has been accused, by his verified customers, of having withdrawn money from their debit and credit cards without prior authorization and for purchases not related to TEFL.

Ian Patrick Leahy claims to be a ‘TEFL expert’, an ‘ESL insider’, but has little knowledge of TEFL – demonstrated in one of his YouTube videos, where a user comments on him not knowing the first thing about teaching Phonetics.

The Ian Patrick Leahy ESLinsider scam has been covered in detail on Trusted TEFL Reviews, using Ian’s own published content against him: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/03/eslinsider-reviews-scam/

We often receive emails, asking whether so and so’s Online TEFL course program is legit or not, and citing concerns about something they have read online that points to the opposite conclusion.

Our advice is always the same.

Place importance on verified customer feedback. Don’t place importance on content that is not from a verified customer source.

5. Common TEFL Scams – Dirt-cheap TEFL courses.

If you pay peanuts then you get monkeys, and if you buy an Online TEFL TESOL certification course for peanuts then you will be setting yourself up for immediate failure and for becoming victim to the dirt-cheap Common TEFL Scams.

We do understand that money can be tight for some people, but there are some purchases in life that you don’t want to save on and compromise quality on.

A TEFL course is something you don’t want to make a huge saving on because there is always a reason behind that huge saving.

If you purchase a 120-hour Online TEFL TESOL certification course for under US$100, you can expect that course to be unaccredited and full of grammar and spelling errors. You can also expect that you will learn very little on the course and that your course certificate will look like a 5-year-old created it.

The dirt-cheap Online TEFL TESOL certification courses are also almost always not accepted by online/international employers, and you will likely discover down the path that your certificate won’t be accepted as a document for the work visa that will be essential for your teaching purposes.

Do yourself a favor and invest a little bit more and earn an internationally recognized TEFL TESOL certificate that will properly train you to teach English, and that will be accepted worldwide.

The Online TEFL TESOL certification courses that Trusted TEFL Reviews recommends you take.

TTR is an unbiased Online TEFL/TESOL reviews website, so we are completely impartial when it comes to which TEFL course you should take.

However, based on the verified reviews submitted over the years by Online TEFL/TESOL course customers, we would recommend, if you are having a hard time deciding on which course to take, the following (listed in order of customer review ratings) Fully Accredited Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs:

TEFL Online Pro | Verified customer reviews | https://teflonlinepro.com/

TEFL/TESOL online programs receive an additional program reviews category when they win the Teachers’ Choice Award and are granted the ability to promote their course discounts or promotions on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

OISE University of Toronto TEFL | Verified customer reviews | https://www.teachaway.com/

CIEE TEFL | Verified customer reviews | https://www.ciee.org/

Maximo Nivel TEFL | Verified customer reviews | https://maximonivel.com/

CIEE TEFL, Maximo Nivel, OISE Toronto TEFL, and TEFL Online Pro certificates are Fully Accredited and internationally recognized.

Read more: The 5 best Online TEFL TESOL courses to take in 2026

TEFL Online Pro has won the Teachers’ Choice Award in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2024/10/19/the-teachers-international-online-tefl-tesol-certification-course-choice-award-winner/

Stay safe out there!

This ‘Common TEFL Scams | What To Watch Out For’ article was written by Mia Williams, co-owner of Trusted TEFL Reviews (TTR) | Best Featured TEFL Articles

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post Common TEFL Scams | What To Watch Out For appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.

ESLinsider and Ian Leahy Blacklisted Warning!

TEFL/TESOL in Japan scam ESLinsider / ESLinsider review, submitted by Trusted TEFL Reviews.

TEFL/TESOL in Japan scam – Ian Leahy.

We don’t find any pleasure in blacklisting an Online TEFL/TESOL certification school, but ESLinsider/Ian Leahy has now reached that threshold.

ESLinsider is owned and run by Ian Leahy.

Ian Leahy is a US citizen, currently living in Fukuoka, Japan, and he is also currently being investigated by the Chinese authorities for fraud.

Essential TEFL Tip!

Are you worried about being scammed? TEFL course scams are becoming more sophisticated!

Protect yourself by reading about the latest TEFL scams in this article:

Online TEFL/TESOL Course Review Scams in 2026

If you are concerned about becoming a victim of an Online TEFL/TESOL course scam, we strongly recommend choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2025:

The 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL Courses in 2026

Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews

A snippet from the (documented) accusation:

‘After some deliberation, we have decided to warn all the foreigners now teaching in China that if you sent an email to eslinsider.com or even visited their website more than once over the last 6 months, you will soon be investigated by the Chinese PSB as we recently found out in an unexpected interview we obtained with a veteran Captain who has worked more than 8 years with the PSB in a Tier 1 city of China.’

Further information can be read here:

ESLinsider/Ian Leahy TEFL/TESOL scam

Since earlier this year, ESLinsider has consistently tried to undermine the credibility of trustedteflreviews.com by posting misleading materials, on various online platforms.

Such platforms include the ESLinsider.com school website, Ian Leahy’s YouTube/Vimeo channel, Reddit.com, and Quora.com.

For the past 6 months, Ian Leahy has made claims that trustedteflreviews.com is owned and run by the following Online TEFL/TESOL certification programs:

CIEE TEFL
ICAL TEFL
Maximo Nivel TEFL
OISE University of Toronto TEFL
TEFL Online Pro

What do all 5 of these Online TEFL/TESOL certification programs have in common?

They have all featured in the top 5 ranked Online TEFL/TESOL certification schools list since the start of this year.

Online TEFL TESOL Courses Reviews

trustedteflreviews.com is an independently run Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews website. We are not affiliated with any Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program(s).

trustedteflreviews.com was started by myself and a bunch of other English teachers, who were fed up with the amount of Online TEFL/TESOL misinformation published online.

If an Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program is ranked high in the list of certification programs, this means that they have received overwhelmingly positive (verified) customer feedback.

If an Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program is ranked low in the list of certification programs, this means that they have received overwhelmingly negative (verified) customer feedback.

ESLinsider is currently ranked bottom of the list and has featured in the bottom 5 for the past 9 months.

Instead of being focused on improving the course experience for his customers, Ian Leahy has chosen to lash out at trustedteflreviews.com with a barrage of misleading materials that he has published online.

Ian Leahy might sound convincing, he might even appear credible, but he is driven by one desire: the desire to work as little as possible whilst earning as much money as he possibly can to fuel his lifestyle.

He has been called out on this behavior before – type ESLinsider Asia Scam or Ian Leahy Asia Scam into Google.

Taking into account all of the above information, ESLinsider will now be listed on trustedteflreviews.com with a blacklisted warning. This will go into effect from today.

Mia Williams

Read more ESLinsider reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

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Is ESLinsider legit?

Is ESLinsider Legit? ESLinsider review, submitted by Todd.

Is ESLinsider legit? The course contains very poor video quality.

I kind of feel bad writing this review, because I think ESLinsider are trying to build up its TEFL course online presence and I don’t want to be someone who comes in the way of that. But, this is a TEFL course review and I need to be objective here.

At first, I had my eye on the ITTT TEFL certification online course (which I later took, btw, and which I was satisfied with). Their website looked professional and there were a lot of good things written about the program. But then, my attention was drawn to eslinsider.com and an article written by its founder, Ian Leahy. In the article, he argues the point that ITTT TEFL shouldn’t be trusted. The reasoning behind this, according to Ian Leahy, is because of their affiliate marketing strategy and because they also clandestinely run xxxxxxxxxx.xxx. Ian Leahy claims that because ITTT TEFL secretly run xxxxxxxxx.xxx, they were able to award themselves a TEFL course award.

How was I to know any better? I just took Ian Leahy for his word and enrolled in his course instead.

I thought, at the time, that I had dodged a bullet.

One of the first things which should have been a red flag was the need to pay the ESLinsider course fee via Western Union. Ian Leahy convinced me that this was how all TEFL schools arrange their course payments. He was very convincing, so I paid and waited, and waited, and waited. After a week of waiting, I got a reply to confirm that the payment went through. All I now had to do was create an account on his school website (https://www.course.eslinsider.com/) and I was good to go.

I followed the instructions and created an account. I was pretty excited by this point to start the course that Ian Leahy had claimed was the “creme de la creme of Online TEFL courses” (his own words, not mine.)

It was then that I realized the huge goof I had made.

The course didn’t have any structure to it. It consisted mainly of random pages of video tutorials, with Ian Leahy taking center stage. The course contains very poor video quality. Two of the videos were actually inaudible, due to the sounds of the children shouting and screaming at the top of their lungs.

No grammar was explained. Nothing like that. It was just a mashed-up series of videos in which Ian Leahy is teaching lessons to children. Below each video, there is a list of questions that you need to answer before you can gain access to the next low-quality TEFL video.

When I wrote to ESLinsider to complain (I was polite about it) they replied that a refund “isn’t applicable” because I started the course. Had I paid via credit card, I would have been able to contact my bank for a chargeback claim.

I decided that it wasn’t worth my while pursuing it anymore after I had complained on Quora and when Ian Leahy incredulously replied to my post that I had never taken his course and that I was an angry competitor. I have spent time reading his school blog and can see why competitors would be angry with him. His school blog is full of attacks on his competition. I can now see that this is probably ESLinsider’s way of winning new business.

Oh, and btw, I did check to see whether ITTT TEFL run xxxxxxxxxx.xxx and I never did find any truth to that accusation.

ESLinsider is probably best avoided. I’m awarding it 2 stars because I did learn something. It just didn’t cut it for me though and I lost a few hundred bucks in the process. The whole experience was just bizarre.

Essential Tip!

We (Trusted TEFL Reviews) have had enough of the few rogue Online TEFL/TESOL companies that have been coordinating a sustained smear campaign against trustedteflreviews.com and managing to scam students by presenting themselves in a more professional light than they are.

You can read all about this scam in the following article:

Online TEFL/TESOL Course Review Scams in 2024

If you are concerned about becoming a victim of an Online TEFL/TESOL course scam, we strongly recommend choosing from one of the 5 Best Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs in 2024:

The 5 Best Online TEFL TESOL Courses in 2024

Mia Williams – Trusted TEFL Reviews

Read more ESLinsider reviews

New! Click here for the online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award winner. International Online TEFL/TESOL course certification at its best.

Verified Online TEFL/TESOL certification course program reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: TEFL Course Directory

TEFL Accreditation Guide | 6 TEFL Red Flags | TTR Home | TEFL Course Special Offers

The post “The course contains very poor video quality” appeared first on Trusted TEFL Reviews.