Can't say if it's legit or not (and many are not) but assuming it's legit it's still a pretty crappy deal.
Crunch some of the numbers given above, taking into account realistic expenses of living a frugal lifestyle in a foreign country. (If you have ATPL debts as well, you probably won't even be able to service the debt so you're just getting deeper in the hole.) It will take you several years to break even on this deal, after which time you have a fairly useless TR and you're earning peanuts. Chances are you'll get the boot after one year in favour of the next guy with 22K burning a hole in his pocket (otherwise why the one year renewable contract) and you'll be even further out of pocket. Take a year out and go surfing instead, and you'll still be better off than this deal. Alternatively get a qualification that is in demand and earns good money: learn to rod out drains.
(A) If you don't expect to come away with more money than you started with then it's not a job.
(B) If you don't expect to come away with a qualification that will directly increase the chances of job, as defined by (A), happening in the imminent future then it's not career development and it's not training.
(C) If (A) and (B) are both true, it is probably best considered a hobby, for people who can afford expensive pastimes.
With the details given above, I think we're looking at (C) here.
Last edited by Torque Tonight; 8th Oct 2013 at 13:23.