Uncertified Scoundrels Teaching the Public to Dive in Libya

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That's not enough "Wow's" :) I am in town in Libya now where there are 5 "fake instructors" actively running free and scuba instructions and I am the ONLY properly trained, legitimate certified and dues paying instructor in this town. In the Capital city of Libya, Tripoli, there are about 5 certified instructors including myself and only 3 of us have current status with our respective agencies yet all are actively teaching. Several other not certified individuals are running dive schools (free and scuba) without being certified instructors. Even some of the certified instructors sell c-cards to the uncertified fake instructors to give to their students. One such character is running a summer camp for kids and trains them on Scuba and even runs advanced courses for them to dive to 30 meters yet he isn't an instructor. He buys c-cards from an instructor who is about 200 miles away in a different town without having anything to do with the students.

Are the C-Cards, even though not authorized through the "fake" instructor, legimate? I mean, are they real PADI or whatever C-Cards that will be honored at other dive locations besides Libya?
 
Are the C-Cards, even though not authorized through the "fake" instructor, legimate? I mean, are they real PADI or whatever C-Cards that will be honored at other dive locations besides Libya?

Hard to imagine how they could be if there isn't a legitimate instructor for PADI to tie them to. Unless the fake instructors are using real instructors' info.
 
I, for one, have a hard time believing that anyone would ever teach someone to dive without paying PADI dues.
 
Hard to imagine how they could be if there isn't a legitimate instructor for PADI to tie them to. Unless the fake instructors are using real instructors' info.
I believe he said real instructors 200 miles away are sending real cards to fake instructors to give out, and the real instructors have no idea who is getting them or what training (or lack thereof) is involved.
 
In Libya, con men and scammers in scuba and free diving training have taken over the scene and the public has fallen victim to them unfortunately. The number of these con man who claim to be instructors (free and scuba) without real instructor’s license has become larger than the number of legitimate properly licensed instructors in the country. The public cannot distinguish between the good and the bad or the real and fake and between the honest professional who has earned his instructor’s designation from a legitimate diver-training agency and follows the training standards of his agency. These scoundrels are committing their deceit and fraud with all comfort. The saying in Libya, “making a living” has given license to many individuals to commit fraud despite of their contradicting and violating Islamic teachings in addition to disregarding all ethics and honor of the profession.

In countries that respect the law, honor the ethics of the profession and protect the safety of their citizens, all those who fraudulently represent themselves as dive instructors (in all its forms) face severe legal consequences and may even be put in jail. Regrettably, in Libya fraudsters boast of their deceit and fraud and compete to break the rules and regulations of training in public without shame, care or concern to public safety. The worst types are the licensed instructors who sell scuba diving certifications to these Scammers when they have no role in training or qualifying the trainees at all. They have sold their honor and professional ethics, not to mention violating all their moral, contractual and legal obligations with their training agencies for a quick dinar.
Sounds like Capitalism at work here?

License? from who? Does Libya have government regulations covering scuba diving and/or scuba diving instruction? (I am fairly certain many French influenced areas do).

I "teach" a sport for renumeration. My country has a national association for the sport that governs all national and olympic events. Regardless, there are no "laws" and hence no "licenses" required to teach. I am free to make up any kind of "certification of training" that I choose. Of course, since I am a nobody, no one else would "recognize" my training certificates. But I am still free to teach and charge whatever I like.

Long live Capitalism!
 
Hard to imagine how they could be if there isn't a legitimate instructor for PADI to tie them to. Unless the fake instructors are using real instructors' info.

It is not that uncommon to get a PADI card with instructors name being someone you never met. Happens quite often, also in countries that are much more organised than Libya currently is.
 
I would be more worried haftar and the tobruk faction are going to kick off against the gna soon now that they have pacified benghazi


Haftar or ISIS, it doesn't mean that we forget about everything else in life and just freeze waiting for us to get rid of them. We have auto deaths, diving accidents taking place, traffic, garbage collection and all other parts of running a country.

Haftar has no real military on ground, he was able to do what he did because of the air cover he got from Egypt, UAE and France. His so called "army" is made up of African mercenaries and foreign air cover.
 
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Until someone with authority sees this as a real problem with an unaceptable amount of people getting hurt will they take any action. Where would illegal and unethical fake scuba instructors hurting or killing people be on the priority list in Libya these days?

As I pointed out, many and disproportionate number of people are getting hurt and some of them dying or permanently disabled. These charlatans are teaching all age groups including teenagers and children. As an experienced dive professional myself, I can't just stand still and wait for the good times to come before I point out the tragedy taking place now in my home country. Good times may come soon or after a long time but the fraud and crime are continuing to take place and grow to even bigger proportions.
 
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Sounds like Capitalism at work here?
"Capitalism"?? Do you mean crime? If one opens a medical clinic and starts to practice medicine when he isn't a properly trained and legitimately licensed medical doctor (or any other type of profession) is this a crime and fraud or "capitalism"?


I "teach" a sport for renumeration. My country has a national association for the sport that governs all national and olympic events. Regardless, there are no "laws" and hence no "licenses" required to teach. I am free to make up any kind of "certification of training" that I choose. Of course, since I am a nobody, no one else would "recognize" my training certificates. But I am still free to teach and charge whatever I like.
So you would let a person who is not certified free/scuba instructor teach your loved ones, young son or daughter and still cheer for "capitalism"? Would you let an untrained and unlicensed person teach your kid in kindergarten or primary school??

Capitalism doesn't mean chaos and total disregard to law, ethics and public safety!!
 
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