Is CUCAS legit?

[Yorin]

Kind of scary how people can use the internet to create their own reality. I wonder if he just wants to promote his websites and seminars, or if this is some kind of attempt at blackmailing. I'll contact Xi Jinping and advise him to look into it.

 

Anyway, what this tread now really needs is more feedback from people who've actually used the service.

[China_Checker]

Whatever arguements are made for or against CUCAS, I want to know how a "private for profit company" gets and uses a domain that only legall be used by a registered and accredited university? (www.CUCAS.edu.cn) When a credible explanation is given, I will reconsider my position. Thank you for the right to disagree on your forum.

[edelweis]

@China_Checker: it must mean that your assumption is false "a domain that only legall be used by a registered and accredited university? (www.CUCAS.edu.cn)". Or do you have a link to the law or regulation which supports this sentence? (I mean a link to an official Chinese government website, you know, one with a regulated domain name...)

 

 

@Yorin: there have been some Cucas users who have posted their satisfaction or dissatisfaction, like kdavid in this thread, or Prateeksha. Or you could use the search function to hunt the forum's cucas users down and ask them to post here.

 

 

@Cucas representative: actually I am a bit curious about how you make money. There used to be a processing fee. Now it doesn't exist any more? Do the universities pay you back for each application? for each student that actually pays the tuition fees? Or are you subsidised in another way?

Also you used to offer scholarships, I assume with money collected from the processing fees (Prateeksha said she got one such scholarship). Do you still do this?

[roddy]

http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/blog/scam-alert-iphone-delivery-scam/

Hmmm, cleverchinacheaters, where have I seen that before? Oh yeah, the first page of this topic. What's that in the comments....

"Nice try Anthony Demarco aka Bruce Anthony Gorcyca"

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a8M31WP_schY&refer=canada

"Bruce Gorcyca, also known as Anthony DiMarco"....

 

http://scamwatching.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/anthony-demarco-dimarco-and-china-trade.html

"further claim to be involved in ... maintaining various scammer databases" Hmmm, sounds oddly familiar

 

http://www.wyzxwk.com/Article/zatan/2011/12/271293.html

2009年10月： Anthony DiMarco/Bruce Gorcyca目前居住在中国 。他逃到中国以逃避被引渡回国。 他经常出没于各个大学（尤其是北京的中国人民大学）

(that's actually in English elsewhere, but hey, practice your reading. 引渡 is "extradition", btw)

 

http://www.thebeijinger.com/forum/2013/01/21/heads-all-weve-got-scammer-board

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=1071367

 

That's enough Internet detectiving for me. Like the man says folks, make your own minds up. There's weird stuff going on here, and I'm not even going to pretend to figure out the motivations behind it...

 

What I will say is this: CUCAS are not the most interesting part of this discussion any more. 

[roddy]

On the domain issue - .edu.cn is administered by CERNET, CUCAS says on its website it has a strategic partnership with CERNET. CERNET regulations permit the use of edu.cn domains by 教育/科研单位. I wouldn't be surprised if other companies also use .edu.cn domains, though I don't know of any. CUCAS certainly seem to have good connections with the education authorities. I can't see how that's a bad thing. 

 

The China Scam Patrol folks are still attempting to post their discovery of CUCAS as a giant scam around the Internet, including on here. We'll no doubt hear from them again. 

 

I took the time to send messages out to five people who'd recently indicated they'd used or were using CUCAS. I got four responses. All four were positive. One student did have problems which I think can be put down to the university rather than CUCAS (course enrolled on wasn't offered, airport pick up didn't show up), but still said she'd recommend them. I'll invite those students to post here also. 

[tytzer]

Based on everything I've read so far from the above, I find the accusations very very misleading. 

I've personally used CUCAS to apply for 3 different universities in China for 3 different courses, one which I am currently studying at. I even got a full-refund when one of the courses I applied for could not happen due to the lack of students.. (FYI, it's the Communication Course in Wuhan University in English) Some mis-communication is normal but it's usually never CUCAS fault but the university. Don't expect to find a centralized application system in China that works for foreigners.. Believe me.. I've tried.. 

And regarding the Domain issue... If you're that paranoid, you're better off applying directly to the university.. But even that, you might still get scammed or mis-communicated. 

 

[roddy]

"We'll no doubt hear from them again. "

And delete them as they pop up. Post openly and honestly, whatever your name is, and maybe someone might take you seriously. 

[jsalinas]

Might not be relevant anymore but I've used CUCAS without a problem twice already, and while it wasn't anything spectacular they did their job, and *delivered* and admission, registration fees paid and everything.

The unis are chaotic, organizion-wise, but CUCAS is the agency, nothing to do with that.

The first uni I applied was Jiangsu University, and it went well. Back in 2011 they didn't offer top universities like Tsinghua or Peking, but nowadays they seem to have broadened their scope.

I used them again (luckily I rememberd my old password so I didn't have to pay another processing fee! Yay! They do five applications for 50USD, I think?) this past september (2013) and again, no problem…

Hope this helps!

[sujeto]

I'm sorry for the off topic, but it's funny that CUCAS in Caribbean Spanish sounds exactly like "Pussies". Yesterday my mom caugth me looking for "Pussies" in Google and the fact that "Pussies"are legit or not.   It was an akward moment.

[roddy]

On 04/04/2014 at 12:08 PM, roddy said:

"Nice try Anthony Demarco aka Bruce Anthony Gorcyca"

Idly Googled this guy's name to see what he was up to now. Apparently he's getting his car shot up as he's neck deep in a Wikileaks conspiracy. Or.... IS HE?

 

Edit I have to stop soon

Meeting Bill Clinton

Blowing whistles

Causing innocent Internet users to spend too much time Googling him

 

 

[Tomsima]

This thread has been a wild ride, finished off by coming face to face with former Canadian-american-coastguard-federal-agent with Ecuadorian-ex-wife. Fantastic. Only a fool would use CUCAS!

[roddy]

5 minutes ago, Tomsima said:

Only a fool would use CUCAS!

Either you've completely misunderstood what's happened, or you've made a joke which the many many people who WILL misunderstand what's happened will take seriously. 

[Lu]

I think it was a joke. Let me kill it (sorry Tomsima, it was funny):

'China Checker' is a lot of things, but not reliable. It's best to disregard his comments on CUCAS.

[Tomsima]

Yeah sorry sarcasm doesn't carry across too well in text