Immigrant Trap: How TeachBK scammers promise a "Legal path to the US"
Immigrants to the US are a gold mine for scammers. They pump money out of people who often don’t speak English and don’t understand how things work in America. Scammers often have popular blogs and chats, and shoot a lot of videos.
And they promise unhindered and guaranteed “passage to the USA,” guarantors hired for money, and rush an experienced “immigration lawyer.” As a result, immigrants are left without money, legal paths to immigration, and on the radar of law enforcement agencies.
Today we will talk about the company Teach VK, which operates in the market of illegal immigration services under the guise of “bloggers” and an advertising platform. The co-founders of the project are Russians Andrey Burtsev and Ilya Kiselev. According to them, they recently fled Russia, asked for asylum at the US-Mexico border and are waiting for an interview (that is, they are formally in the deportation process).
But the lack of legal status in the United States and poor knowledge of the language do not prevent Russian refugees from teaching others how to move to America.
TeachBK offers immigration consultations, a guarantor in the US for money, sells cars to refugees in Mexico (for crossing the US border - was relevant before the appearance of the CBP One app), visa assistance, and they also refer immigrants to ONE immigration lawyer, for which they receive a percentage.
Ilya and Andrey accept cash payments through anonymous intermediaries in Mexico, as well as to accounts in Russian banks (which are under sanctions in the US).
Absolutely everything listed is not only unethical, but also illegal.
Unfortunately, many TeachBK clients do not realize that they are dealing with scammers, and they themselves become part of criminal activity by purchasing their services. Many immigrants at the beginning of their journey do not know that only licensed lawyers can provide immigration services in the USA, guarantors must personally know the immigrant (and not offer this service to strangers for money), it is impossible to buy cars without documents, and lawyers do not have the right to pay intermediaries with Russian cards for clients.
As TeachBK victims told us, it never occurred to them that they were dealing with scammers, as they saw a large number of subscribers on their YouTube and Telegram channels, and did not see any negative reviews. Having already given the scammers money, immigrants began to understand that TeachBK uses bot farms and fake profiles to increase the anxiety of potential customers and push them to buy (like the border between the US and Mexico is very dangerous, so if you do not buy TeachBK services, you will be arrested, stopped, robbed). Many also told us that their negative reviews are deleted, profiles are blocked (that’s where only positive reviews come from).
TeachBK scammed Alina out of $7,000
The editorial office received a letter from Tatyana, the mother of immigrant Alina, who came to the US in January of this year with her husband and three-year-old child, and was careless enough to buy a car through TeachBK in Mexico. The car turned out to have fake documents, most likely stolen.
"My daughter bought a car from TeachBK. The car was in very poor condition. The road was very difficult due to a large number of faults in the car. She had her husband and a 3-year-old child with her. In Miami, she tried to register the car. But the documents for the car turned out to be illegal," says Tatyana Butman.
The immigrants bought the car through Ilya Kiselev.
“We watched a lot of channels on immigration, we trusted TeachBK the most because they were the biggest and there were no negative reviews. As we later found out, we just searched very poorly. You need to understand the state of people who are in Mexico. Absolute tunnel vision. And you need to find at least some clue, who you can trust, and who to turn to for help,” explains her daughter Alina.
Having found an advertisement on social media about selling cars for those crossing the border with Mexico, with assurances that all cars are checked and can be registered at any DTS (department of the transport service) in the States, Alina, Tatyana’s daughter, contacted the founder of TeachBK, Ilya Kiselev.
Advertisements for the sale of cars with the TeachBK logo can still be found on social networks. At the bottom - in small letters - a warning that they do not bear any responsibility.
“I contacted the owner of this chat, Ilya, directly, voiced my needs... I was assured that there would be no problems with registration,” says Alina, a direct participant in this story.
The car, a 2000 Ford Escape, cost the immigrants $5,000, which they paid in cash to a supplier in Mexico, plus more than $2,000 for insurance, oil and coolant changes, and repairs along the way from California to Miami. Alina and her husband later calculated that cars in that condition were worth half as much.
This car was purchased by immigrants after contacting TeachBK
And when they tried to register the car at their new place of residence, a real quest began. They drove from one DMV to another, stood in lines for hours, and were refused everywhere, citing problems with the documents.
The immigrants, who had been in touch with Ilya Kiselev all this time, contacted TeachBK with a request – no, not to return the money – but to send legally executed documents. To which they first suggested in correspondence that the girl… forge a signature. And then they said that the company was just an intermediary and was not responsible for anything. The supplier disappeared from contact.
“All banners bear the TeachBK quality mark”
The journalist recorded an interview with the heroine of this story, Alina Butman, who still keeps the car she bought with the help of TeachBK as a souvenir. You can’t drive it, it won’t be registered.
Alina published her story on the Telegram channel Teach BK, but later not only she and her mother, but also everyone who liked her story, were removed from the chat and blocked. They stopped communicating with them. And then they asked for another $1,200 to get “clean” documents…
From correspondence with Ilya Kiselev.
"I am currently looking for victims because I want to file a class action lawsuit. I have found a large number of victims, but the thing is that people are afraid.... As of today, I have found several families of victims. Not only because of cars. People suffered because of lawyer services, providing a guarantor in the border. There are families who are ready to file a lawsuit," the immigrant says.
There are many victims
When our heroes began to study the reputation of the company that helped them, it turned out that their case was far from isolated.
Victims share their experiences on social media.
"You are not the only ones. They sold us a car without a catalytic converter, which we can’t register now! 6 thousand dollars down the drain! We were told that they are just advertisers... My husband and I write to them, but they block us and delete all messages in the chat! A scam!", one of the victims wrote in a correspondence with our heroines.
"... The TeachBK gang makes money by selling people cars at a high price, with a huge markup, saying don’t buy from others, it’s not safe, they’re in cahoots with the Mexican police... If you decide to move by car, never just hand over the money without finding out the price! They sell you these cars, you leave them after the move, they buy them back and sell them again at crazy prices!" says an anonymous user.
Another guy, his name is Yuriy, already told on YouTube how he was "scammed" for $7,000. The immigrant did not have a guarantor. A certain Rustam in the TeachBK group offered help. They named the price - $700, and it was necessary to pay after crossing the border.
But when the state service at the detention center offered to pay bail - $3,000, the guarantor asked for another $4,000 for his services. And what happened next? After the money was transferred, the guarantor disappeared, and the intermediary stopped responding to messages. The guy spent 20 days in the detention center.
The victim wrote about his negative experience in the TeachBK group. But his message was deleted and the contact was blocked.
Where is TeachBK located?
So, on the TeachBK.com website there is no mention of this being a company registered in the US. There is only a copy of some certificate from a Polish company that together with TeachBK they do “recruitment of applicants to educational institutions in the EU, UK and US” and hold “large scientific exhibitions in the IT sphere based on Rossotrudnichestvo of the Russian Federation” (an executive body of the Russian Federation that is under international sanctions). How and why Ilya and Andrey, refugees from Russia, can cooperate with the Russian authorities that persecuted them, is not entirely clear. However, this is not the only connection between the founders of TeachBK and the Kremlin (we will have a separate section about this).
Clients say: payments to the company are made using a Tinkoff bank card in the name of its founder, Ilya Kiselev. The card details are sent to clients in messages.
The website also lists a certain address: 1025 E HALLANDALE BEACH BLVD. This is a one-story shopping center with hair salons and furniture in the city of Hallanale, Florida (it is adjacent to the legendary “Russian” Sunny Isles Beach, and simpler people live there than in Sunny Isles). Of course, there is no TeachBK office at this address, there is no sign there, Andrey Burtsev and Ilya Kiselev do not sit there, providing illegal services to immigrants. However, addresses for registering a business can be bought online at exactly this address for $9.99 through, for example, this service.
TeachBK is registered at this address.
This led us to believe that Andrey Burtsev and Ilya Kisilev had registered some kind of company in Florida. A search of the Florida registrar gave us a corporation, TeachBK Inc., which was newly opened in February 2023. The founders are Andrey and Ilya, and the address of both is listed as: 707 Continental Cir, Mountain View, CA 94040.
This is an apartment complex in the very expensive city of Mountain View, California, where one-bedroom apartments cost from $3,000 per month, but this is most likely not where Ilya and Andrey live, but another virtual address (although the founders of TeachBK say that they do live in California).
Well, maybe Russian refugees can afford to live in one of the most expensive cities in the US because they earn very, very well.
Judge for yourself, here are how many different services TeachBK provides (and receives money for everything in rubles, bypassing sanctions and taxation in the USA):
TeachBK Visa Moscow
TeachBK Mexico USA
TeachBK Immigration to the USA
TeachBK Auto Showroom USA
TeachBK Immigration Blacklist
TeachBK USA First steps. Work. Real estate.
TeachBK Transportation of animals from Russia to the USA
TeachBK Medicine
TeachBK Psychological help
TeachBK Wait for me
TeachBK Check the scammer
TeachBK UK United Kingdom
TeachBK Education in the USA
TeachBK Education in Europe
Please note that they even created a channel "Check the scammer", where they collect information about all "scams". Often competitors and dissatisfied customers end up on the lists of scammers. And all negative reviews regarding TeachBK are immediately blocked.
What’s wrong with TeachBK
TeachBK promises immigrants help and support in everything, but in reality, clients complain that they are not responsible for the services they offer.
The media had previously encountered this company when they arrested scammers with a bunch of cash on the Mexican border. According to our information, the Myakotins were associated with two projects of intermediaries in Telegram - "Teach BK" and "Most v SShA". However, the company stated that it had nothing to do with "Most".
A supplier working with TeachBK told our heroine Alina about the huge volumes of trade in cars (as it turned out, at twice the inflated prices and without the necessary documents): sometimes he brings in up to 30 cars a day based on requests from this company.
In addition, TeachBK finds potential immigrants guarantors in America who are required to pay for the guarantor’s services. Without advertising this service, as this is also a deception of the American authorities.
Advertisements for lawyer-magicians who guarantee that a person will not end up in immigration prison are also most often a "scam". Lawyers can rarely somehow influence the algorithm of actions of the immigration service. The decision to let someone through to the border or not, to put them in jail or to let them out right away is made by American border guards. No "helpers" or even lawyers can influence this.
Journalists have obtained an audio recording of a telephone conversation in which the company’s founder, Ilya Kiselev, explains how his business is structured.
"We get money from each consultation. $200 for the consultation, $50 for us. Then a lawyer gets involved. We let people through ourselves, we control the lawyer. The lawyer "forks out" some percentage to us for getting clients. And that’s how the whole road is monetized. First for the consultations, then for the lawyers, then, perhaps, consultations on adaptation - we have those too. That’s how we create a service... there’s a whole branch," Ilya Kiselev tells his interlocutor.
Thus, we can conclude that “Teach BK” receives its own percentage from each of the areas of work. At the same time, the company offers services on its own behalf. And if problems arise, clients learn that “Teach BK” is only an intermediary and is not responsible for anything. And who is responsible is unknown.
Why Immigrants Are Falling for TeachBK
Alina Butman turned to this company because they have a US citizen, licensed attorney Alexey Tovaryan, working with them. She was sure that the attorney would not risk his license or reputation.
Another victim also says that he studied numerous TeachBK channels for more than a month. And it was the lawyer’s video consultations that won him over.
In Telegram channels, Kiselev directly advertises the services of lawyers to help get out of detention.
"We have Russian-speaking lawyers who work with people stuck in detention. They get them out - 100%. We saw it with our own eyes. We saw how people work. Therefore, if anyone needs lawyers who specialize in detention - write to us in a private message, write to me personally - I will put you in touch with these lawyers," says Kiselev.
The last name is not given. But judging by the information in the public domain, Russian-speaking lawyer Alexey Tovaryan has been cooperating with TeachBK for more than 2 years. He records videos for their channel "Immigration US" on YouTube, speaks for hours in live broadcasts, shoots short videos, gives consultations and recommendations. And he makes people trust the company.
Advocate Tovaryan publicly speaks under the brand TeachBK.
What is Tovaryan’s relationship with this company? We don’t know for sure. He did not respond to the request. According to our information, he received messages from those who suffered from Teach BK’s actions.
This correspondence with Tovaryan was provided by one of the clients.
"They did nothing illegal." He even threatened to sue.
Rubik also sent TeachBK a request for comments. Ilya Kiselev sent a link to a video recorded several months ago in response to the company being mentioned in one of the articles. In the video, Kiselev and Burtsev said that all the negativity about them was slander. At the same time, they threatened our editorial office with a lawsuit and demanded a public apology. And they did not provide any evidence to disprove the accusations against the company.
The company reacts very painfully to any public criticism - all victims say this. But apart from threats, blocking contacts and hysterics on YouTube - the founders of Teach BK do not provide any weighty arguments in response to criticism.
Who are the founders of TeachBK
The company’s founders, Ilya Kiselev and Andrey Burtsev, have been convincing clients for 5 years that they will help others immigrate, and they have proven methods in their arsenal to make it quick and painless, and most importantly, guaranteed. But here’s what’s surprising: the immigration "specialists" themselves have still not received the right to legally live in the United States.
Some interesting facts from Ilya Kiselev’s past have become known.
"This is a very dangerous man," we were warned.
One of the victims provided screenshots of correspondence with Kiselev with obvious threats. And in this correspondence, Ilya admits that he is an employee of Russian law enforcement agencies. Our interlocutor assumes that he may still continue to cooperate with law enforcement agencies or even special services of the Russian Federation.
An anonymous source gave us a link to one of the classifieds sites. Look at this interesting business that opened in Moscow a few years ago: a topless car wash. And it is advertised by a character we already know – Ilya Kiselev.
Girls with bare breasts wash cars, payment - depending on time and range of services. Nothing illegal? But let’s take a closer look at the list of services.
Washing a car in a bathing suit costs 1,500 rubles (a little less than $30), and for 4,500 rubles for half an hour (at that time it was $80 - an amount that exceeded even the rates for sex services) a girl will wash the car completely naked. For the same amount, you can take the service "Cleaning the interior and polishing the dashboard with the owner inside - 30 minutes." And here is another interesting service: exclusively "polish the dashboard for 15 minutes." What do you think is the purpose of a motorist paying such money for polishing a spare part? And what kind of dashboard should a naked beauty polish for him for 15 minutes?
Let us remind you that all this is advertised by our hero, who calls himself a "cop", and today is rushing to the USA as a politically persecuted person in his homeland. Could it be that the former (or current) policeman Kiselev was a pimp in Moscow?
We were also sent an audio recording in which Kiselev received a call from, as our source claims, the famous prankster Evgeniy Volnov, introducing himself as Yarosh from the Investigative Committee of Russia, and asking him to come for a conversation.
"We received a statement that you essentially fit the article ’foreign agent’. You receive funding, as I understand it, from an American citizen from the USA - Alex Tovaryan - for providing him with clients - Russian citizens, whom you transport across the border. Do you understand, yes, where all this is leading?" the prankster asked.
Ilya replied that he doesn’t do that. I wonder why – if everything is legal, as he claims? And in his YouTube video, he himself boasts that he has already transported 600 people through Mexico to the US.
“It was after this audio recording that Ilya fled in panic to the United States via Mexico,” says our source, who wished to remain anonymous.
And here is another former partner complaining and talking about Teach BK’s working methods.
For immigrants, cooperation with such scammers can end badly. Here’s an example: after the arrest of lawyer Ilona Dzhamgarova for fraud, her clients also found themselves in the crosshairs of American justice.
Therefore, the services of “border intermediaries” are simply a scam to get money from desperate people.
Мария Соколовская