I just received this China ESL Foreign Teacher Warning Chain Letter - Scam?

Happy holidays to all of you guys. I hope you are spending it with your loved ones somewhere warm and cozy.

I just got this in my inbox from nelson [@ friend of Wagner].  At first I thought it was a hoax but now I realize its another damn good reason to avoid recruiters. This is criminal in my opinion.

"Dear teaching colleagues,

Did you know that you have 15 employee rights as an expat employee in China?  If not, then you probably signed an illegal contract that forfeits 30%-40% of your wages/salary. This is not a joke. 70% of us were never told about these rights that kicked in late 2012 when President Xi Jinping ordered that foreigners stop being exploited. Recruiters and China employers do not want us to know about these rights. Why?  This link will explain it better than we can (see the third post in the thread):

Link removed by Moderator

The very same thing is happening to thousands of China foreign teachers. If you sign an illegal contract you are implicitly waiving your employee rights. The solution for you must wait until you renew your contract. BUT, you can help us warn others by emailing this message to 10 of your teaching colleagues, and ask them to do the same. If you do nothing, you will continue to forfeit 30% - 40% of your total wages. But, these rights only apply to expats working with a Z visa. If you are working on an L, F, M, or X visa (even part time tutoring) you have no rights and are subject to arrest and deportation as an illegal alien. More information can be found about your employee rights at Link removed by Moderator.
Best wishes for the New Year!

Taylor, Frank, & Johnny
China Scam Watch"

I already shot it off to 20 of my fellow teachers in China.

Very interesting. When I went to Shanghai Expat, I get this -

"Information
You have been permanently banned from this board.
Please contact the Board Administrator for more information.
A ban has been issued on your IP address."

I've never been a member and never posted.

With China rapidly becoming the state-sponsored phishing capital of the world, I think training members to click random, important-sounding links is an excellent idea. Here's a link that explains better than I can:


Link removed by Moderator
AMonk

Wagner I appreciate your zeal, but it seems you are just linking to another post on a different site. That lends no credibility.

CM - Those city sites are the worst. I have roughly 3 posts in my current cities forum. Mrs. Tree spent a lot of time there but her internet rage went over 9000 about two weeks ago.

  NOW we are being sent chain letters?!? How totally juvenile!!



This Thread is now LOCKED. 

Wagner,
You have been asked politely to refrain from making this type of post.  You have ignored the request.  I have now placed you on a Read-Only status.
AMonk