X Online TEFL Course Scams - Trusted TEFL Reviews https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/x-online-tefl-course-scams/ TEFL and TESOL Online Certification Course Reviews in 2026. Sat, 31 Jan 2026 09:00:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://i0.wp.com/trustedteflreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-trusted-tefl-reviews-logo.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 X Online TEFL Course Scams - Trusted TEFL Reviews https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/x-online-tefl-course-scams/ 32 32 159069400 The TEFL Academy Fraud https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/the-tefl-academy-fraud/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/the-tefl-academy-fraud/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2025 12:51:27 +0000 https://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=28976 Important Notice Regarding The TEFL Academy The TEFL Academy Fraud. At Trusted TEFL Reviews, we are committed to providing transparent, honest, and verified feedback about TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) programs around the world. We take this responsibility seriously because prospective TEFL students deserve to make informed choices—especially when investing in their education […]

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Important Notice Regarding The TEFL Academy

The TEFL Academy Fraud. At Trusted TEFL Reviews, we are committed to providing transparent, honest, and verified feedback about TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) programs around the world.

We take this responsibility seriously because prospective TEFL students deserve to make informed choices—especially when investing in their education and future career.

It has recently come to our attention—and we believe it is now necessary to disclose publicly—that The TEFL Academy (https://www.theteflacademy.com/ has engaged in troubling behavior that raises serious questions about its business practices.

This notice is intended to alert our users and the general public to those issues, and to caution anyone considering enrolling in a TEFL course through this organization.


1. Pressure to Remove Reviews

The TEFL Academy has aggressively attempted to have all their reviews removed from Trusted TEFL Reviews. They initially succeeded. Due to the company’s financial resources and reputation for litigious behavior, we temporarily removed all reviews out of concern for possible legal consequences.

This decision was not taken lightly.

However, after thorough legal consultation and out of respect for the integrity of our platform and our reviewers, we have republished all reviews related to The TEFL Academy.

These reviews were all submitted by students who actually enrolled in and completed one or more of their TEFL courses.

We will continue to stand by these reviews because they represent authentic experiences—both positive and negative.


2. Mixed Student Experiences

The reviews we have received for The TEFL Academy are mixed.

  • Some students have shared positive experiences. These students generally appreciated the structure of the course, ease of access, and support throughout their studies.
  • Others, however, have raised significant concerns—particularly with the recognition and legitimacy of The TEFL Academy’s course certificates when used to apply for teaching positions outside the UK and Ireland.

It is important to note that Level 5 TEFL certificates, like the ones offered by The TEFL Academy, are generally only fully recognized within the UK and Ireland. While some students have successfully used their certificate to secure employment abroad, many others have encountered difficulty, often discovering that employers or visa authorities did not recognize the qualification as valid or accredited internationally.


3. Accreditation Claims: Misleading and Incomplete

The TEFL Academy claims to be the world’s #1 TEFL provider and to be fully accredited. We urge potential students to approach these claims with caution.

  • There is no independent verification that supports the assertion that The TEFL Academy is the “world’s #1 TEFL provider.” This is a marketing slogan, not a verifiable fact.
  • Their accreditation status is questionable at best. While they may be registered with certain organizations, this does not equate to true educational accreditation, nor does it guarantee the course’s global recognition.

This pattern of inflated marketing language and unverifiable claims is one of the reasons why The TEFL Academy Fraud concerns have been raised repeatedly by former students and industry insiders.

Trusted TEFL Reviews is updating this section of the article today, on October 17, 2025, to reflect an update that The TEFL Academy has recently made on its website.

It no longer claims to be “The World’s #1 TEFL Course Provider“.

Instead, it is now claiming to be “The World’s Favorite TEFL Course Provider.”

What WILL they change it to next?


4. Fake Reviews and Affiliate Manipulation

Our platform was also targeted by what we have determined to be fake reviews submitted on behalf of The TEFL Academy. This occurred when approximately 10 glowing reviews were submitted within a single 24-hour period. The writing style of these reviews was suspiciously promotional, many using identical phrases and marketing language pulled directly from the company’s website.

Further investigation revealed that one of the reviews came from someone known to us to be a The TEFL Academy affiliate, meaning they stood to gain financially from promoting the program. We have every reason to believe that similar tactics are being used on other TEFL review websites.

Such manipulation not only undermines the trustworthiness of review platforms, but also constitutes a clear breach of ethical conduct. The submission of fake positive reviews is a serious red flag and aligns with the growing body of complaints categorized under The TEFL Academy Fraud.


5. Misinformation and Attacks on Competitors

In addition to submitting fake reviews, The TEFL Academy has reportedly engaged in aggressive attacks against competing TEFL providers, spreading misinformation in an effort to damage their reputation. We’ve been made aware of unsubstantiated claims made by individuals affiliated with The TEFL Academy about other reputable programs—most of which were later proven to be completely false.

This kind of behavior is not only unprofessional, but also deeply harmful to the broader TEFL community. It reflects poorly on the organization and further calls into question its credibility.


6. Change in Ownership and Strategy

The TEFL Academy underwent a change in ownership in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The timing was no coincidence—demand for online TEFL courses surged during this period. The new owners appear to have capitalized on this boom by heavily marketing the course as a fast-track, affordable way to teach abroad or online.

While this business strategy may be smart from a profit standpoint, it’s not necessarily in the best interest of students who expect a recognized, legitimate, and career-enhancing qualification.


7. Final Thoughts and Recommendations

We want to be clear: Not every student who takes a course with The TEFL Academy will have a negative experience. Some people do complete the program and successfully find teaching positions afterward. However, the number of complaints we’ve received and the company’s pattern of behavior—legal bullying, fake reviews, inflated claims, and misinformation campaigns—have raised significant red flags.

Before enrolling, we recommend that students:

  • Verify whether the course certificate is accepted in the country where they intend to teach.
  • Compare The TEFL Academy with other reputable providers, many of whom have better track records and do not rely on deceptive marketing.
  • Read both positive and negative reviews from multiple platforms—not just those controlled or influenced by The TEFL Academy or its affiliates.

Above all, be cautious. A TEFL certificate is an investment in your future. Make sure the provider you choose is transparent, ethical, and truly accredited.


Have You Taken a Course with The TEFL Academy?

If you have taken a course through The TEFL Academy—positive or negative—we encourage you to share your experience on Trusted TEFL Reviews


The TEFL Academy Fraud Summary

This notice highlights multiple issues associated with The TEFL Academy Fraud, including attempts to suppress honest reviews, the submission of fake positive reviews, and inflated marketing claims. While The TEFL Academy remains a popular TEFL provider, it is our duty to report questionable behavior so that students can avoid becoming victims of misleading advertising or unrecognized certification.

Stay informed. Stay empowered.

Trusted TEFL Reviews Team


The TEFL Academy (Verified) Reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/the-tefl-academy/


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“I was coerced into writing a 5-star review” https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/i-was-coerced-into-writing-a-5-star-review/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/i-was-coerced-into-writing-a-5-star-review/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2025 11:26:21 +0000 https://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=28090 The TEFL Academy review, submitted by Anonymous. This is my honest review of the (TTA) The TEFL Academy 168-hour Level 5 TEFL & TESOL course I paid for and completed last month (February 2025). I chose this program because of the hundreds of 5-star reviews on the Go Abroad reviews website. It seemed like it […]

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The 5 Best Online TEFL & TESOL certification courses in 2023 & 2024 - trustedteflreviews.com
2 star online tefl review

The TEFL Academy review, submitted by Anonymous.

This is my honest review of the (TTA) The TEFL Academy 168-hour Level 5 TEFL & TESOL course I paid for and completed last month (February 2025).

I chose this program because of the hundreds of 5-star reviews on the Go Abroad reviews website.

It seemed like it was obviously a legit program so I signed up without second thought, using the coupon code to get the discount.

I liked the practical ease of the user experience.

The login was straightforward, but I did see a number of grammar errors within the course content, and I didn’t like the time lags in the communication with The TEFL Academy.

Emails were responded to after day 4, while some of my emails never got a reply.

I steamrolled through the course because I already had a job lined up and I just wanted the course certificate.

I was taken aback by the additional high cost of the certificate (was it a hidden fee?), but it did arrive to my Inbox a week later. Not such a quick turnaround, but nothing really to complain about.

I thought my experience with The TEFL Academy was then over, until, two days later, I received an email from Megan Broccoli. She presented herself as the program’s post-course “Graduate Liaison Officer”.

Her email started off in a neutral tone, but quickly went south when she actually wrote that if I were to write a 5-star review for The TEFL Academy on Go Abroad, The TEFL Academy would say or write wonderful things about me as a graduate if an employer ever needed a character reference from them.

In other words, I was coerced into writing a 5-star review.

Against my inner moral compass, I did write the review, but then deleted it because it didn’t sit well with me.

I chose The TEFL Academy because of those 5-star reviews on Go Abroad.

It made me wonder how many other reviews on there were coerced.

Look, the program was fine and I got the certificate, but this stuff with the reviews left an incredibly bad taste in my mouth.

The way Megan wrote the email verged on the threatening, like if I didn’t do it they would say or write bad things about me for a character reference?

I did vent on the r/TEFL subreddit, but my comment wasn’t published, which also seemed very odd.

My comment was pretty lame in comparison with other comments for other TEFL & TESOL programs.

Seemed to me The TEFL Academy has some kind of agreement with that subreddit.

For these reasons, please label my review “Anonymous”.


Read more The TEFL Academy 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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TTA The TEFL Academy https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/tta-the-tefl-academy/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/tta-the-tefl-academy/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2025 11:24:59 +0000 https://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=11999 TTA The TEFL Academy | Fact-checked Written by Mia Williams – co-owner of trustedteflreviews.com It is said that a magician’s best friend is a drunk audience. Well, please allow me to sober you up to the reality of the magic tricks of TTA The TEFL Academy. FYI, this program also operates as Everything TEFL Ltd. […]

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The 5 Best Online TEFL & TESOL certification courses in 2023 & 2024 - trustedteflreviews.com

TTA The TEFL Academy | Fact-checked

Written by Mia Williams – co-owner of trustedteflreviews.com


It is said that a magician’s best friend is a drunk audience.

Well, please allow me to sober you up to the reality of the magic tricks of TTA The TEFL Academy.

FYI, this program also operates as Everything TEFL Ltd.

This article will peel away the facade of its accreditation claims, will question the legitimacy of its philanthropic work in the Nepalese community, will highlight its ongoing business operations in Russia, and will expose how this TEFL company uses its vast marketing budget to perpetuate the illusion that it has hundreds of thousands of TEFL graduates teaching all over the world.

There is, of course, also the question of its fake reviews – also covered in this article.

Let us begin this sobering-up process by looking at a few screenshots from its company website.

Btw, those reviews in the screenshot, listed under “Accreditation Partners”, are from reviews.co.uk. That site is infamous for deleting negative reviews in return for payment and letting fake positive reviews remain published without any quality control verification oversight.

QUALIFI | DEAC | AQC | Scam accreditation warning
QUALIFI | DEAC | AQC

Fake TEFL Accreditation

It claims that QUALIFI, DEAC, and AQC are its “Accreditation Partners”.

QUALIFI is a UK-based organization that APPROVES courses and institutions.

It approves hair, beauty, wellness, and aesthetics courses, and it also approves TTA The TEFL Academy’s courses.

“Approval” is not the same as “accredited”.

Even if it did (in another dimension somewhere in the universe) accredit its courses, would any employer really take its accreditation seriously when it also accredits hair, beauty, wellness, and aesthetics?

Key members of QUALIFI approve courses in “Hair, Beauty, Wellness, and Aesthetics”.

If an organization had the authority to accredit courses and institutions, don’t you think that it would use the term as often as it could on its company website?

QUALIFI uses the term “accreditation” zero times on its company website.

Instead, it uses the word “approved”.

“Approved” is NOT the same level of authority and recognition as “accredited”.

qualifi.net accreditation scam
QUALIFI approves courses. It does not accredit them. It just doesn’t have the authority to do so.

Are you sobering up a little now?

Let’s proceed! 🙂

DEAC DOES accredit courses and institutions.

I can sense that you are thinking that there may be a catch here because this article is exposing TTA The TEFL Academy for (among other infractions) false accreditation claims.

And, yes, you would be correct to be suspicious.

Two in a row! 🙂

All it takes is a few clicks to confirm that it is not accredited by DEAC.

Here is a screenshot from the DEAC website – its directory of accredited institutions:

DEAC Directory of Accredited Institutions
DEAC – “Search Accredited Institutions” website page.

The TEFL Academy is not in the directory, and is, therefore, not accredited by DEAC.

If it were, it would be listed in the directory.

AQC appears to be a sister organization of DEAC.

How can I know this?

Well, DEAC devotes a chunk of its website footer to AQC.

Does AQC accredit courses and institutions?

No.

How do I know this?

It is stated on the DEAC/AQC website:

TTA The TEFL Academy is only approved by AQC
AQC – Approved Quality Curriculum

And here is the listing for TTA The TEFL Academy, as an approved center, on the AQC website:

AQC TEFL accreditation scam
AQC approves courses and institutions. It doesn’t have the authority to accredit courses and institutions.

Three out of three strikes.

Bingo! 🙂

Trusted TEFL Reviews reached out to QUALIFI, DEAC, and AQC for comment.

DEAC promised to get back to us. This was two weeks ago.

AQC failed to respond to our request for further information.

QUALIFI had the gall to write that approval is the same as accreditation.

We had an email back and forth with QUALIFI for a week and we discovered that it could be very probable that QUALIFI and TTA The TEFL Academy are connected companies, which would be, if true, a textbook example of a clear conflict of interest.

When we asked whether QUALIFI is a sister company of the TEFL Academy, we were warned that no further emails would be answered.


Let’s now take a look at some more screenshots from the homepage of the TEFL Academy’s website:

TTA The TEFL Academy awards
Winner of awards in 2019, 2020, and 2021 -awarded by goabroad.com and gooverseas.com

Fake TEFL Awards

It is a bit ironic that the TEFL Academy has spent the latter half of this year complaining that teflonlinepro.com has won the Teachers’ Choice Award seven years in a row – 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 – and then miraculously, the TEFL Academy also (very recently) began promoting its “award wins” for the same years.

You should now be almost sober, so this explanation will be easier to digest – despite its underlying complexity.

goabroad.com and gooverseas.com are two TEFL course and TEFL travel websites that earn revenue by promoting TEFL programs and TEFL job placements on their websites – rarely can you trust any of the reviews published on either platforms.

Some Trusted TEFL Reviews reviewers have complained that their negative review of the TEFL program they took was deleted from either goabroad.com or gooverseas.com, so they chose to have it published on trustedteflreviews.com instead.

trustedteflreviews.com is a non-profit website and we publish every positive and negative TEFL course review that has been verified as having been written by a real TEFL course student/graduate.

goabroad.com and gooverseas.com are for-profit websites, and it is in their business model interests to publish positive reviews and hide negative reviews.

It, therefore, logically follows that any awards dished out by both these websites have a monetary motive – for both of the websites and for the TEFL program that won the award and which likely paid a substantial amount of money to “win” the award.

The Teachers’ Choice Award (https://trustedteflreviews.com/2023/12/04/the-teachers-international-online-tefl-tesol-certification-course-choice-award-winner/) on the other hand, is a non-profit award that is based entirely on merit.

Trusted TEFL Reviews asks language schools, universities, current English teachers, and recent Online TEFL/TESOL course graduates to take part in the Online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachers’ Choice Award, by voting for their favorite Online TEFL/TESOL international certification course program.

TTA The TEFL Academy (https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/the-tefl-academy/) likely won its awards by handing over a large bag of unaccredited TEFL course cash.

We are 100% certain that TEFL Online Pro (https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/tefl-online-pro-teachers-choice-award-winner-2024/) won its awards by being voted the best Fully Accredited Online TEFL/TESOL certification course provider.

Top TEFL Course Awards Winner 2019 | 2020 | 2021
“Highest average review ratings of any TEFL provider!”

Fake TEFL Reviews

We know with absolute certainty that the TEFL Academy is involved in the mass faking of its company reviews.

How can I be so certain of this?

Last year, and a part of the year before that – just after the TEFL Academy brought in a new Marketing Manager (Thomas Gibbons) Trusted TEFL Reviews began receiving an unusually large amount of reviews for this program.

In one week, we received something like 30 reviews for the TEFL Academy.

Out of those 30 reviews, just one (1) was verified as being written by someone who had taken the course.

The remaining 29 all came from the same IP address in Dublin, Ireland, where TTA The TEFL Academy has its headquarters.

The remaining 29 reviews were written by school staff and by its Brand Ambassadors.

This appears to be a pattern in TEFL Academy’s marketing campaigns online.

They show photos of people who work for them and claim that they are, instead, English teachers living the best time of their lives.

Btw, when you read a review that states that the TEFL course was “amazing” or “extraordinary”, you must know that it is a fake review or that the person writing the review has been paid for writing the review.

TTA The TEFL Academy incentivizes its graduates to write positive reviews – sending out a mass email each week to its recent grads – with the quid-pro-quo offer of a free mini TEFL course, such as a Teaching Business English course.

Such an example of a review that has been written by the TEFL Academy, or written by a graduate of the program that has been offered a free course for writing a review:

TTA The TEFL Academy fake reviews on Facebook Meta

Russia TEFL Money | TTA The TEFL Academy

Now that you are fully sober, it might be time to have a shot because what follows makes me feel angry and repulsed.

TTA The TEFL Academy still makes money from its business operations and partnerships in Russia.

This Google Ads screenshot was taken earlier today:

The TEFL Academy | Jobs Russia | Google ads
TEFL Jobs Russia | The TEFL Academy.

Spending money on Google Ads to maintain its business operations and partnerships in Russia.

The Google Ad takes you to these pages on the TEFL Academy website:

The TEFL Academy Ireland/UK continues its Russian operations and partnerships in May 2022
Promoting teaching English in Russia, despite the ongoing war atrocities and genocide in Ukraine.
TTA The TEFL Academy Russian Federation Jobs
TTA The TEFL Academy | Russian Federation.

As of May 19th, its Russian Jobs page and its TEFL Fact-Book Russia page are still live on theteflacademy.com site.

I have sent TTA an email, today May 19th, imploring them to take down both pages from the website.


May 20th, 2022 UPDATE

TTA The TEFL Academy has stopped its paid Google Ads for its TEFL courses in Russia.

It is, however, still promoting Russia as a teaching destination on its school website, where it states that it has a school located in Moscow.


TTA The TEFL Academy | Conclusion

Should this company be avoided for all of the above reasons? We will leave this up to you to decide for yourselves.

This is not financial advice, but we have received credible first-hand reports of TTA TEFL students getting full refunds on their course purchases because they were able to prove to their bank or PayPal that the course is not accredited.

  1. You could contact TTA the TEFL Academy and ask to cancel your TEFL course and ask for a full course refund. It might take up to two weeks to get a reply from them, but you would need to provide proof to your bank that you have requested a refund. Take a screenshot of the refund request.
  2. You could contact your bank or PayPal and instigate a chargeback. The reason you could give is that you didn’t receive the goods that you paid for. If pressed further, you can quote passages in this article and the financial institution could agree that the TEFL Academy is misrepresenting itself by claiming it is accredited.
  3. You could choose a Fully Accredited TEFL/TESOL certification course that you can use for all online and in-person international teaching jobs.

Take a look at the Trusted TEFL Reviews TEFL Course Directory:

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

The top-rated programs are top-rated for a legitimate reason.

For all accreditation questions:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2023/12/03/best-tefl-accreditation/

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


June 10th, 2022 UPDATE

Who is your money going to when you pay for an Unaccredited TEFL course with this company?

TTA TEFL Company Director | Rhyan O’Sullivan
Rhyan O’Sullivan is one of the Co-Founders at TTA The TEFL Academy.

Your money is, in large part, financing the lifestyles of two men who are originally from Brighton, England.

Andy Norman and Rhyan O’Sullivan.

Tom (Thomas) Gibbons is responsible for the day-to-day running of the business. I have read some of his online material – defamatory attacks against the TEFL Academy’s competitors – and I was immediately struck by just how badly written his posts were. Tom isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.

I found this (two-page) press release online:

Andy Norman and Rhyan O'Sullivan TEFL scam
Andy Norman and Rhyan O’Sullivan are both from Brighton, England and share a love of horse racing.
Tom Gibbons TEFL Scam webinar
Tom (Thomas) Gibbons is responsible for the day-to-day running of TTA The TEFL Academy.

There is no evidence, whatsoever, that other TEFL companies “copied” Tom Gibbon’s TEFL webinars.

If you are convinced to take a course with this company, please do ask them exactly how much of your course fee will be donated to the charity that they promote so heavily on their program website.

Ask for proof (receipt) of the charitable donation.

Call me skeptical, but it is difficult to believe anything that is claimed to be true by this Unaccredited TEFL program.


August 23rd, 2022 UPDATE

Lo and behold! We stumbled across an About Me webpage for TTA The TEFL Academy, and it contains some very interesting information.

The TEFL Academy used to be “accredited” by WTEFLAC – a known fake TEFL accreditation website.

TTA The TEFL Academy has gone from having fake accreditation to having no accreditation.

TTA The TEFL Academy fake accreditation Page 1
This must have been written a good few years ago because TEFL Academy claims to be the number 1 TEFL course in the UK now.
TTA The TEFL Academy fake accreditation Page 2
Yes, we agree that “accreditation is a major factor that should be considered when choosing a TEFL course”.
TTA The TEFL Academy fake accreditation Page 3
Yes, we agree that most of the UK-based TEFL courses are not recognized outside of the UK – including TTA The TEFL Academy’s TEFL courses.

Essential TEFL Tip!

Are you worried about being scammed? TEFL course scams are becoming more sophisticated, and (TTA) The TEFL Academy has been proven to be a scam!

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


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


Read more The TEFL Academy 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 5 Best Online TEFL & TESOL certification courses in 2023 & 2024 - trustedteflreviews.com

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Fake Accreditation Warning https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/fake-accreditation-warning-theteflacademy-com/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/fake-accreditation-warning-theteflacademy-com/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2025 11:24:59 +0000 https://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=8506 Fake Accreditation Warning The TEFL Academy review, submitted by Mia Williams. Fake Accreditation Warning. The TEFL Academy – TTA (https://www.theteflacademy.com/) claims to be accredited by Ofqual, TQUK, QUALIFI, DEAC, and AQC. This is intentionally misleading because these are regulatory bodies and not accreditation bodies. TEFL students are reporting to Trusted TEFL Reviews that when applying […]

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The 5 Best Online TEFL & TESOL certification courses in 2023 & 2024 - trustedteflreviews.com

Fake Accreditation Warning The TEFL Academy review, submitted by Mia Williams.

Fake Accreditation Warning.

The TEFL Academy – TTA (https://www.theteflacademy.com/) claims to be accredited by Ofqual, TQUK, QUALIFI, DEAC, and AQC.

This is intentionally misleading because these are regulatory bodies and not accreditation bodies.

TEFL students are reporting to Trusted TEFL Reviews that when applying for jobs outside of Ireland and the UK, their TEFL Academy certificates are often not being accepted – both during the job interview process and during the work visa process.


Essential TEFL Tip!

Are you worried about being scammed? TEFL course scams are becoming more sophisticated, and (TTA) The TEFL Academy has been proven to be a scam!

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


Concerning TEFL students reporting that when applying for jobs outside of Ireland and the UK, their TEFL Academy certificates are often not being accepted: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2019/03/25/the-tefl-academy-certification-review/

It also appears that The TEFL Academy is employing graduates of their program to act as ‘Brand Ambassadors’ – pushing the notion that only a TEFL Academy certificate will suffice and that other TEFL TESOL programs are inferior products.

If you stumble across any blog or other website that is critical of any Online TEFL TESOL program other than the TEFL Academy – offering The TEFL Academy as an alternative, better option – we recommend taking the contents of that blog or website with a healthy helping of salt.

It will simply be a front for directing readers to an alternative TEFL course: The TEFL Academy.

In conclusion, The TEFL Academy certificate will be fine if you plan on teaching English in Ireland or the UK. However, for international teaching jobs, we would recommend choosing a Fully Accredited and internationally recognized TEFL TESOL certification course program.


April 25, 2022 update:

As it turns out, a TEFL Academy (TTA) certificate is not even accepted in Ireland as a teaching English as a foreign language qualification.

Trusted TEFL Reviews received a carbon copy of an email, from a worried TTA TEFL certificate holder, in which The TEFL Academy clearly states that its certificates are not valid for teaching English jobs in Ireland.

This news comes as quite a shock because the TEFL Academy’s main headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland.

Not even the country where the company is located will accept its certificates.

A TEFL Academy certificate should be fine for some low-paid teaching English jobs.

For better-paid teaching English online and abroad job opportunities, we recommend choosing a Fully Accredited TEFL/TESOL program.


Institutions providing Online TEFL programs with Fully Accredited status include:

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.


The following Online TEFL/TESOL programs (in alphabetical order) are Fully Accredited and internationally recognized:

Bridge TEFL | https://bridge.edu/tefl/ | Bridge TEFL verified trusted TEFL reviews.

CIEE TEFL | https://www.ciee.org/ | CIEE TEFL verified trusted TEFL reviews.

Maximo Nivel TEFL | https://maximonivel.com/ | Maximo Nivel verified trusted TEFL reviews.

ontesol | https://ontesol.com/ | ontesol verified trusted TEFL reviews.

OISE University of Toronto TEFL | https://teflonline.teachaway.com/ | OISE TEFL verified trusted TEFL reviews.

Oxford Seminars | https://www.oxfordseminars.com/ | Oxford Seminars verified trusted TEFL reviews.

TEFL Iberia | https://tefl-iberia.com/ | TEFL Iberia verified trusted TEFL reviews.

TEFL Online Pro (Teachers’ Choice Award winner, 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025) | https://teflonlinepro.com/ | TEFL Online Pro verified trusted TEFL reviews.


Trusted TEFL Reviews recently tried to reach out (twice) to The TEFL Academy, for a clear answer to their bogus accreditation claims. For reasons of fairness, we also reached out to a competing program of The TEFL Academy – TEFL Online Pro – and the results of our telephone conversations can be read in this article:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/05/01/the-accreditation-watchdog-the-tefl-academy-versus-tefl-online-pro/


Learn more about TEFL TESOL accreditation:

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

https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/03/28/tefl-tesol-accreditation-101/


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


Read more The TEFL Academy 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 5 Best Online TEFL & TESOL certification courses in 2023 & 2024 - trustedteflreviews.com

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The TEFL Academy certification review https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/the-tefl-academy-certification-review/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/09/09/the-tefl-academy-certification-review/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2025 11:24:58 +0000 http://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=625 The TEFL Academy certification review. This ‘The TEFL Academy certification review’ article uncovers the extremes that this program will go to, to present and maintain a positive public image. Fake Reviews | Affiliate Links | Ambassador Program | False Accreditation Claims. The TEFL Academy certification review. This article was last updated on September 14, 2025. […]

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The TEFL Academy certification review.

The 5 Best Online TEFL & TESOL certification courses in 2023 & 2024 - trustedteflreviews.com

This ‘The TEFL Academy certification review’ article uncovers the extremes that this program will go to, to present and maintain a positive public image. Fake Reviews | Affiliate Links | Ambassador Program | False Accreditation Claims.


The TEFL Academy certification review. This article was last updated on September 14, 2025.


The TEFL Academy (TTA) is not a legitimate online TEFL/TESOL certification company.

The TEFL Academy (TTA) is not a fully accredited online TEFL/TESOL certification course program.

Despite its website claims, TTA The TEFL Academy is Unaccredited. This is a TEFL scam.

Trusted TEFL Reviews recommends avoiding The TEFL Academy (TTA).

Think about it. Would you employ someone who presents a TEFL certificate at a job interview that isn’t accredited?

After reading this article, we recommend reading:

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

Trusted TEFL Reviews’ advice is to invest in a Fully Accredited TEFL/TESOL certificate that will be recognized for all online and abroad teaching English jobs.


Essential TEFL Tip!

Are you worried about being scammed? TEFL course scams are becoming more sophisticated, and (TTA) The TEFL Academy has been proven to be a scam!

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


Is The TEFL Academy (TTA) Legit and Accredited? No. Verified customer reviews complain about not being able to use this TEFL/TESOL certification internationally and write that because of this, they lost money and strongly felt they had been scammed by The TEFL Academy – TTA. Yikes!

8th June 2022 UPDATE:

TTA The TEFL Academy – Fake TEFL Accreditation | Fake TEFL Awards | Fake TEFL Reviews | False TEFL Advertising:

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


The main reasons for this Buyer Beware Warning:

  1. This program has attempted, on several occasions, to get reviews written by their staff employees published on Trusted TEFL Reviews. Trusted TEFL Reviews only publishes verified Online TEFL/TESOL customer reviews – we don’t publish fictitious reviews, self-written by Online TEFL/TESOL programs.
  2. The TEFL Academy (TTA) claims to be accredited by a bunch of “external bodies” but these are only regulatory bodies – AQC | DEAC | OfQual | QUALIFI. The TEFL Academy (TTA) is only regulated by the bodies that it claims accredit them.

The TEFL Academy (TTA) provides unaccredited Online TEFL/TESOL certification courses, that are only recognized within the United Kingdom and Ireland. This is further backed up by the poor The TEFL Academy (TTA) verified student reviews: https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/the-tefl-academy/

Instead, we recommend choosing to take your international TEFL/TESOL certification course with a program offering a fully accredited course that is far more recognized internationally than The TEFL Academy’s.

The four highest-rated TEFL Academy TTA fully accredited alternative course options, listed in order of customer review ratings:

  1. TEFL Online Prohttps://teflonlinepro.com/
  2. OISE Toronto TEFLhttps://teflonline.teachaway.com/
  3. CIEE TEFLhttps://www.ciee.org/
  4. Maximo Nivel TEFLhttps://maximonivel.com/

CIEE TEFL, Maximo Nivel, OISE Toronto TEFL, and TEFL Online Pro are Level 5 and CELTA-equivalent Online TEFL/TESOL certification programs.

TEFL Online Pro verified customer reviews:

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

OISE Toronto TEFL verified customer reviews:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/oise-university-of-toronto-tefl/

CIEE TEFL verified customer reviews:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/ciee-tefl/

Maximo Nivel verified customer reviews:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/maximo-nivel-tefl/

CIEE TEFL, Maximo Nivel, OISE Toronto TEFL, and TEFL Online Pro certificates are Fully Accredited and internationally recognized. The TEFL Academy TTA certificates are not fully accredited and are not internationally recognized.

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

https://trustedteflreviews.com/teachers-choice-award-winner-2019-2/

All 56 Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs are currently listed on Trusted TEFL Reviews, ranked in order of customer satisfaction: https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-course-directory/

More on The TEFL Academy scam: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2021/07/26/common-tefl-scams/


The TEFL Academy certification review.

19th May 2021 UPDATE:

The TEFL Academy has been exposed by The TEFL Watchdog, for falsely claiming to telephone inquiries from prospective students that The TEFL Academy is accredited by Ofqual. When further questioned on this false claim of Ofqual accreditation – in two separate telephone calls – both TEFL Academy sales reps put the phone down on The TEFL Watchdog.

It does need to be clarified that the TEFL Academy sales reps assumed that they were having a conversation with real prospective students, and had no idea that they were speaking with members of The TEFL Watchdog.

Further details can be read in the ‘X TEFL Watchdog’ section of Trusted TEFL Reviews:

https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/x-tefl-watchdog/

Trusted TEFL Reviews would like to repeat that The TEFL Academy (theteflacademy.com) is not a fully accredited and internationally recognized TEFL certification program.

If you telephone The TEFL Academy and ask who accredits them, they will reply that they are accredited by Ofqual. This is a lie. Ofqual is a regulatory body and not an accreditation body.

If you press The TEFL Academy further on this bogus accreditation claim, they will likely put the phone down on you.

The TEFL Academy Level 5 TEFL certificates are only recognized within Ireland and the United Kingdom. Try using the certificate anywhere else, and you will likely be met with puzzled looks by school employers and government work visa officers.


25th April 2022 UPDATE:

A distraught customer sent Trusted TEFL Reviews a carbon copy of an email from The TEFL Academy, which explicitly states that TEFL Academy certificates are not recognized in Ireland. They also state that its certificates are not recognized in Malta.

Given that the TEFL Academy’s main office is in Dublin, Ireland, it puzzles us as to why its certificates are not recognized in the country in which it is headquartered.

Go figure! 🙂


The TEFL Academy Certification review.

This is a long, informative article that we recommend reading through from start to finish before purchasing a TEFL Academy/TTA ‘Level 5’ Online TEFL/TESOL course.

We will be looking at this program’s “accreditation” claims, how this program floods the internet with fake reviews, this program’s ‘Brand Ambassador’ program, and the dirty tricks that The TEFL Academy employs to inflict damage on its competitors.


The TEFL Academy certification review.

The TEFL Academy Certification Review Part I: Fake Reviews and the Spreading of Misinformation.

  1. The TEFL Academy (TTA) brought in a new Marketing Director, Thomas Gibbons, in 2021.
  2. Not long afterward, Trusted TEFL Reviews (TTR) began receiving a lot of unverified TTA reviews, supposedly written by students of TTA. None of the reviewers could prove course participation. TTR took the correct decision not to publish the reviews because there was no way of knowing if TTA graduates had written the review, or whether employees of TTA had.
  3. These reviews have since been published on other TEFL review websites, where there exists little or no verification process. Such websites include TrustPilot and Reviews.co.uk
  4. Thomas Gibbons contacted TTR to ask if we could delete a (verified) TTA negative student review on TTR. When we said that we wouldn’t, Thomas began pressuring TTR for a face-to-face video call. TTR politely declined the request.
  5. In March of this year, an individual left a review for TTA on TTR. The review was flagged for containing commercial content, and we soon discovered that the individual works for The TEFL Academy as one of their ‘Brand Ambassadors’ – earning 20% of all TTA courses purchased through their website. When we took a look at their website, we saw a website set up to sell TTA courses and a website full of exaggerated promises and misleading facts – such as the claim that teachers can earn $100 per hour teaching English online, and the claim that teachers don’t need a college degree to teach in South Korea. This Brand Ambassador has since branched out – reviewing TEFL programs that they have zero first-hand knowledge or experience of and earning a 20% affiliate’s fee on each referral in the process.
  6. In response to our refusal to publish the aforementioned reviews, TTA decided to attack TTR. They have done this in two different ways:
  1. Through Black Hat SEO. As a direct result of our refusal to publish the aforementioned reviews, TTR has been receiving a large number of spam emails from x-rated websites. We know that this is because of TTA because we began receiving these emails exactly from the time just after we exposed their Brand Ambassador for submitting commercial content to TTR.
  2. TTA has begun spreading the lie, via one of their Brand Ambassador’s websites – the Brand Ambassador whose review was flagged for commercial content – that TTR is run by TEFL Online Pro. This is a blatant lie and is one more inaccuracy on their commercial website. With regards to this second point:

Ian Leahy from ESLinsider was the person who first started spreading the lie that TTR is run by TEFL Online Pro. ESLinsider has also claimed that TTR is run by OISE University of Toronto.

Ian is notorious within the TEFL world for spamming the internet with his conspiracy theories. Pick any Online TEFL program – Ian will have written some trash about it in the past.

This is likely the reason why Ian Leahy and his ESLinsider TEFL program have been banned from Facebook.

Ian Leahy from ESLinsider is also famous in the TEFL world for his scams and deception. Just Google ‘ESLinsider Scams Asia’ and you will discover a treasure trove of complaints and warnings.

This, btw, is the same (Ian Leahy) ESLinsider that has been exposed for making illegal purchases with the credit card details of some of his clients and being indirectly responsible for the imprisonment of Western teachers in China.

You can read all about Ian Leahy’s ESLinsider well-documented scam here: https://trustedteflreviews.com/2020/02/03/eslinsider-reviews-scam/

It just makes us feel so frustrated when TEFL programs behave this way – spreading false rumors about TTR online – because we originally established TTR to be a genuine source of trusted TEFL reviews. Some TEFL programs are so used to being able to manipulate the review websites, where they have affiliate marketing agreements, that they don’t seem to know how to behave when they are faced with an authentic review website.

TTR has noticed a pattern in behavior: A TEFL program asks for a (verified) negative review to be deleted from TTR, TTR refuses to delete the review, and the TEFL program responds with attempts at reducing the credibility of TRR – thereby, hoping to reduce the credibility of the negative review.

A few TEFL programs have chosen this path: ESLinsider, Henry Harvin Education, ITTT TEFL, MyTEFL, TEFL Fullcircle, The TEFL Academy, World TESOL Academy.

TEFL Online Pro seems to be the favored target of these attacks, given that TEFL Online Pro is an award-winning program on TTR. OISE University of Toronto TEFL, CIEE TEFL, and Maximo Nivel TEFL have also been the targets of similar claims. What do all these programs have in common? They are the highest-rated Online TEFL TESOL programs on TTR.

It is rather coincidental that when some Online TEFL programs receive negative reviews on TTR, they claim that the site is biased against them. And it is rather coincidental that the top-rated Online TEFL programs are the ones that are claimed to be the owners of TTR.

TTR 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.

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


The TEFL Academy Certification Review Part II: False Claims Regarding Accreditation and the Recognition of The TEFL Academy Courses.

TTA TEFL boldly claims that their Level 5 TEFL courses are Ofqual and TQUK accredited. They also claim that they are ‘Accreditation Partners’ with QUALIFI, DEAC, and AQC.

QUALIFI, DEAC, and AQC are organizations that simply confirm that a course meets certain criteria, whereby the student can be assured that they are receiving the education that is advertised by the course provider, i.e. they check if what TTA claims they are teaching in their courses is what TTA is providing to their customers. So whilst TTA claims that they are accredited by these organizations, they are not. At most, they should state that they are loosely regulated by them.

TTA also claims, on the TTA school website, that TTA is accredited by Ofqual and TQUK, and that a ‘Level 5’ TEFL certificate is the same as taking the 4-week, in-class CELTA certification course.

Ofqual and TQUK are often (incorrectly) claimed to accredit Online TEFL programs offering a ‘Level 5’ certificate. Some Level 5 programs even go as far as to claim that the Level 5 TEFL certificate is the same as the CELTA certificate. ‘Level 5’ refers to one of the levels on the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In other words, it’s a United Kingdom qualification that means very little to anyone outside of the UK. Furthermore, a qualification assessed at Level 5 doesn’t mean that it is “equivalent to the CELTA qualification”. Instead, it means that the level of education, knowledge, and skills required to complete the course is the same as that required to complete the CELTA, i.e., to be over 18, and to have a level of English and education that is equivalent to the average UK high school graduate.

Ofqual and TQUK are regulatory bodies, not accreditation bodies.

A TEFL program can be regulated by Ofqual and be accredited or fully accredited by an external accreditation body, but this is not always the case.

Several Ofqual-regulated TEFL programs blatantly lie to their customers by claiming that they are Ofqual accredited, or lie and claim that they are Ofqual regulated and fully accredited by another body that only regulates courses.

The TEFL Academy is a good example of this.

The TEFL Academy – https://trustedteflreviews.com/category/the-tefl-academy/ – claims to be accredited by Ofqual, QUALIFI, and DEAC.

All three of these bodies are regulatory, not accreditation bodies. The TEFL Academy is neither accredited nor fully accredited. They are Unaccredited.

Ofqual and TQUK-regulated courses should provide you with a high level of TEFL training (although this is by no means guaranteed) but Ofqual and TQUK are by no means of the stretch of the imagination accreditation bodies.

The TEFL Academy, though, carries out its business practices in such a shady manner that we can see that they fail to follow the most basic of the strict guidelines that you would expect an Ofqual-regulated course should follow.

More information on Online TEFL/TESOL accreditation can be found in The Accreditation Guide: https://trustedteflreviews.com/tefl-accreditation-guide/


Since the arrival of Thomas Gibbons, TTA has aggressively adopted the affiliate’s marketing model.

Like some other Online TEFL programs, such as MyTEFL, TTA also uses ShareASale to gain an advantage in the market.

If you Google search ‘The TEFL Academy reviews’ you will find unverified reviews on the reviews websites that we have already mentioned at the beginning of this article, and you will also find websites that have been created solely to sell TEFL courses through affiliate marketing.

There are two types of TTA affiliate marketing websites:

  1. A travel blogger writes articles about many different TEFL course providers and agrees to also write an article about TTA. This person has never been a TTA customer and, therefore, knows nothing about the TTA customer experience. This person writes an article about TTA, and included in the article is a promo code – where the reader can get a TTA course discount when they use the promo code at checkout. The blog owner receives a commission on each sale when their promo code is used.
  2. A TTA Brand Ambassador – a sales rep for TTA – creates a website in the guise of someone wanting to help people with useful teaching tips and other TEFL/Teaching-related information. They begin reviewing other TEFL programs and also some online teaching platforms. The sole purpose of the website is to get people to click on a link, where the ‘Brand Ambassador’ receives a “small commission” for recommending TTA courses. This small commission is 20% of the sale. This means that if you pay €448 for your TEFL Academy course, you are paying The TEFL Academy €358 and you are paying the Brand Ambassador a finder’s fee of €90.

The big problem with people writing about a product that they may or may not have taken when they are motivated by the money that they could be receiving from what they have written is that they tend to exaggerate what the product or service can do for you. We have witnessed this with posts and websites created for TTA courses – unrealistic claims, and outright lies, about the results of taking a TTA certification course.

TTA’s Brand Ambassadors have two roles:

  1. Sell TTA courses through affiliate links and receive a 20% commission on every sale.
  2. Write negative things about the TTA competition, and in doing so strengthen the brand awareness of TTA courses and earn a 20% commission if someone believes what has been written and decides to buy a TTA course through the Brand Ambassador’s website. The Brand Ambassador knows that by writing a critical post about a TTA competitor, it will show up in search results for that competitor. And TTA helps the post climb to the top of the search results by asking all of their affiliate partners to link to that particular post in their travel blogs. This is what is known as ‘link farming’. And this last point now leads us to the final part of this article – the part where we dish out some karmic justice.

Trusted TEFL Reviews recently published a TEFL Affiliate Marketing Scam article:

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


Part IV: The TEFL Academy vs. TEFL Online Pro.

Since The TEFL Academy insists on carrying out a prolonged attack on Trusted TEFL Reviews – claiming that we are owned by TEFL Online Pro – we thought it only fair to dish out a bit of karmic justice and briefly compare TTA with the TEFL program competitor whom they are currently spreading false information about online.

Having extensively looked through both The TEFL Academy and TEFL Online Pro school websites, we can conclude that:

  1. Both programs offer identical courses in terms of what is included in each course syllabus. This means that the information taught in TTA’s ‘Level 5’ 168-hour course is equal to the information taught in TEFL Online Pro’s 120-hour TEFL/TESOL course.
  2. Both programs appear to offer identical support services.
  3. The TEFL Academy is ‘Unaccredited/Regulated’ and TEFL Online Pro is ‘Fully Accredited, and internationally recognized’.
  4. TEFL Online Pro has won the Teachers’ Choice Award seven years in a row – 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |2024 | 2025.
  5. The TEFL Academy relies on affiliate marketing to win new customers. TEFL Online Pro doesn’t use affiliate marketing.
  6. TEFL Online Pro is a more affordable option than The TEFL Academy.

If we had to choose between The TEFL Academy and TEFL Online Pro, we would choose to take our international TEFL/TESOL certification course with teflonlinepro.com.

Visit the TEFL Online Pro school website

TEFL Online Pro reviews on Facebook

Read TEFL Online Pro verified trusted TEFL reviews


Part V: The TEFL Academy and it’s close business comptitors

You can tell a lot about a person by the friends they have.

The TEFL Academy acts more like a cartel than a professional online TEFL certification program.

It’s sicarios are its affiliste marketers; two of which are Caitriona McTiernan and Megan Boroccoli.


This ‘The TEFL Academy Certification Review’ article was brought to you by Mia Williams at Trusted TEFL Reviews.


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


Read more The TEFL Academy 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 Course Scams In 2026 – Public Notice! https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/02/19/tefl-course-scams-in-2025-public-notice/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/02/19/tefl-course-scams-in-2025-public-notice/#respond Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:59:31 +0000 https://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=27676 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 […]

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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


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6 TEFL Red Flags | How To Spot Them https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/02/07/6-tefl-red-flags/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/02/07/6-tefl-red-flags/#respond Fri, 07 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=10370 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 […]

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The 5 Best Online TEFL & TESOL certification courses in 2023 & 2024 - trustedteflreviews.com

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


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Online TEFL TESOL Course Review Scams in 2026 https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/02/07/online-tefl-course-review-scams/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2025/02/07/online-tefl-course-review-scams/#comments Thu, 06 Feb 2025 23:01:00 +0000 http://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=2623 This article is about online TEFL TESOL course review scams in 2026. 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 […]

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This article is about online TEFL TESOL course review scams in 2026.

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.

The 5 Best Online TEFL & TESOL certification courses in 2023 & 2024 - trustedteflreviews.com

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/

Ian Patrick Leahy | Monroe | New Hampshire
Here is a photo of Ian Patrick Leahy, ESLinsider – the mastermind who recommended students without degrees buy fake ones online.

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


The 5 Best Online TEFL & TESOL certification courses in 2023 & 2024 - trustedteflreviews.com

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“Neutral about MyTEFL” https://trustedteflreviews.com/2024/09/18/neutral-about-mytefl/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2024/09/18/neutral-about-mytefl/#respond Tue, 17 Sep 2024 23:00:00 +0000 https://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=9483 MyTEFL review, submitted by Cynthia. I bought the 120-Hour with the expectation that MyTEFL offered the course with tutor support. There wasn’t any. Hence the low review. Despite this, the experience was overall good. There weren’t any issues purchasing the course and no issues getting access to the course. IMO the content of the course […]

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3 star online tefl review

MyTEFL review, submitted by Cynthia.

I bought the 120-Hour with the expectation that MyTEFL offered the course with tutor support. There wasn’t any. Hence the low review. Despite this, the experience was overall good. There weren’t any issues purchasing the course and no issues getting access to the course. IMO the content of the course was presented clearly and in an understandable way. I’m a newbie to TEFL and I appreciated the step-by-step slow approach to the course. There also weren’t any issues getting the certificate. I just cannot justify spending that much money on a course where you are completely on your own. I haven’t asked for any help yet with finding a job. Maybe that will be a more personalized service. I do need to add that I did pass the course so it isn’t impossible to complete without tutor support. Just would have been much better if I’d had some help when questions arose and when I wasn’t sure of something. Came away with the feeling that it was overpriced for what you get.


Read more MyTEFL 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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“My ESLinsider TEFL certificate wasn’t accepted for my work permit” https://trustedteflreviews.com/2024/09/17/ian-leahy-eslinsider-scam-warning/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2024/09/17/ian-leahy-eslinsider-scam-warning/#comments Mon, 16 Sep 2024 23:00:00 +0000 https://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=5305 Ian Leahy ESLinsider review, submitted by Caitlin. My ESLinsider TEFL certificate wasn’t accepted for my work permit. I got scammed by Ian Leahy from ESLinsider, and looking back, I really should have noticed all of the obvious red flags. I first got to hear of Ian Leahy’s TEFL program from one of his posts in […]

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1 star online tefl review

Ian Leahy ESLinsider review, submitted by Caitlin.

My ESLinsider TEFL certificate wasn’t accepted for my work permit.

I got scammed by Ian Leahy from ESLinsider, and looking back, I really should have noticed all of the obvious red flags.

I first got to hear of Ian Leahy’s TEFL program from one of his posts in Quora. He came over as being very knowledgeable, and I liked how he was prepared to go out of his way to shine a light on some of the dodgy TEFL courses out there. After a couple of emails back and forth, I enrolled in his TEFL (TEKA) course. The course payment was arranged by wiring the money to his bank account. Ok, a little strange, but this was a reliable person, who seemed completely legit.

The course was OK. It wasn’t worth the 300 bucks I paid, but it did cover a lot of the basics for teaching kids. Despite the not-that-great video quality, and having to manually email Ian my course assignments, I managed to see the course through to the end and I received my TEFL certificate.

I must write that Ian was helpful throughout the course and came over as being professional.

The problems began when I started applying for jobs.

Despite assuring me that he would help me find a job, Ian stopped returning my emails as soon as my course was complete. So the first lie was that he provides job support. He doesn’t.

I eventually landed a job with a school based in Shanghai, China. Because of the COVID restrictions on traveling at the time, all my paperwork went through the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. The plan was to get all my ducks in a row before the new year, and then I would travel over to China to begin teaching after the Chinese New Year.

It shook me when I received the news that my application had been declined.

I went through all my paperwork. Everything was in order.

When I checked with the embassy, they informed me that my work permit was declined because my ESLinsider TEFL certificate wasn’t accepted.

So now I am back to square 1 and need to take another TEFL course, but this time one that WILL be recognized. I decided on the TEFL Online Pro program and checked with the embassy and my school if this one would be recognized, they gave it the thumbs up, and now I’m back on course for an early March start to begin my teaching job. So far, the TEFL Online Pro program is excellent.

I wrote to Ian Leahy, asking for a partial refund of my money, but he didn’t respond.

ESLinsider’s TEFL online is a course that you should avoid at all costs. There is no reason for taking it if you can’t use the certificate.


Read more ESLinsider reviews

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TEFL Affiliate Marketing Scam https://trustedteflreviews.com/2023/09/01/tefl-affiliate-marketing-scam/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2023/09/01/tefl-affiliate-marketing-scam/#respond Fri, 01 Sep 2023 01:03:19 +0000 https://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=11041 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 […]

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The 5 Best Online TEFL & TESOL certification courses in 2023 & 2024 - trustedteflreviews.com

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.

This is a prime example of TEFL affiliate marketing. Despite all the claims that Linda makes, it must be pointed out that ITTT TEFL is not even a fully accredited online TEFL/TESOL program.
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:

ESLinsider review of Teach Away Canada
Based on Ian Leahy’s zero experience with this fully accredited and reputable Online TEFL/TESOL program, ESLinsider decided to write some pure fiction rubbish about the program. His only motive for this is to drive more organic search traffic to his blog, where he then tries to convince people that his unaccredited course is the far better TEFL program option.

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 https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/10/12/worst-tefl-courses-2022/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/10/12/worst-tefl-courses-2022/#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2022 01:03:00 +0000 https://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=11815 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 […]

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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

ITTT International TEFL and TESOL Training Fake accreditation

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

The Third Worst TEFL Course in 2022 | 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

TTA The TEFL Academy Company

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 Worst TEFL Course in 2022 | 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 https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/07/07/eslinsider-warning/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/07/07/eslinsider-warning/#comments Thu, 07 Jul 2022 04:25:00 +0000 https://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=12648 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 […]

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The 5 Best Online TEFL & TESOL certification courses in 2023 & 2024 - trustedteflreviews.com

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.

Ian Patrick Leahy | Monroe | New Hampshire
Ian advises people not to get a college degree, and to teach English in China without a college degree.

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 Warning | Ian Patrick Leahy | 2022
ESLinsider Warning | TEFL students and graduates have been scammed out of their money by Ian Leahy.

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

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 5 Best Online TEFL & TESOL certification courses in 2023 & 2024 - trustedteflreviews.com

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ESLinsider https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/06/07/eslinsider/ https://trustedteflreviews.com/2022/06/07/eslinsider/#comments Tue, 07 Jun 2022 09:42:44 +0000 https://trustedteflreviews.com/?p=12475 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 […]

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The 5 Best Online TEFL & TESOL certification courses in 2023 & 2024 - trustedteflreviews.com

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:

Ian Patrick Leahy | Monroe | New Hampshire

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:

ESLinsider reviews scam YouTube channel (1)

Someone who does know what phonics is:

ESLinsider YouTube channel (2)

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


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