The downfall of a good teacher

Teacher's scam

Nguyen Van Chung (born in 1982), residing in Hung Phuc commune, Hung Nguyen district, is a long-time primary school teacher, and has been awarded a certificate of excellent teaching during his work. However, since he learned of the need to apply for a position in the education sector and transfer work from a disadvantaged area to a more favorable area, Chung has proactively approached many people to commit fraud.

Accordingly, the authorities clarified that from June 2019 to March 2021, Nguyen Van Chung defrauded 14 victims, appropriating more than 2.6 billion VND. Of which, the cost of running the payroll ranged from 250-300 million VND, the cost of running a job transfer was 135-240 million VND. When receiving money from the victims, Chung often wrote a "Money Receipt" or "Loan Receipt", at the same time, committed to the time to receive the recruitment decision or job transfer decision to reassure the victims.

Defendant Nguyen Van Chung was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Photo: Tran Vu

Among the victims was Ms. Moong Thi H. (born in 1995), residing in Keng Du commune, Ky Son district. Ms. H. knew Nguyen Van Chung through a colleague. When this colleague had just passed the recruitment exam for a kindergarten teacher in Ky Son district, Chung proactively contacted her, introduced himself, and lied that he was the one who created favorable conditions and helped this teacher pass the recent recruitment exam. From then on, Chung told her that if she had friends or relatives who needed to "run" for a position, he would help.

Knowing that her friend, Ms. H., wanted to apply for a teaching position, this teacher introduced her to Chung. In early 2020, Chung contacted Ms. H. and lied that Ky Son district currently had 3 additional positions available, and if she wanted, Chung could apply for H. to teach preschool at a cost of 130 million VND.

Trusting her, Ms. H. transferred money to Chung many times. By the end of January 2021, Chung lied that Ms. H. had been appointed as a preschool teacher but in another commune, not the unit she wanted. Chung's purpose was to create a reason to appropriate more money. When Ms. H. did not agree and asked to teach at a school near her home, Chung asked for an additional 20 million VND. Ms. H. agreed to transfer the money and continued to wait. After that, Chung contacted Ms. H. again and asked her to give him another 9 million VND as a gift for the leader. After appropriating 159 million VND from Ms. H., Chung cut off contact.

It is worth mentioning that during the time of committing the fraud against Ms. H., Chung also defrauded Ms. H.'s cousin. This person had just graduated from university and intended to apply to teach at a high school in Ky Son district. Chung guaranteed to get her a job and offered 200 million VND. Trusting her, this woman transferred the above amount to Chung many times and waited for a long time but did not receive a decision on accepting the job.

Similarly, Ms. Vi Thi Th., residing in Ta Ca commune (Ky Son) was also scammed by Chung in the form of running errands. She was the person Chung scammed the most money out of, 500 million VND. In June 2019, Chung contacted Ms. Th. and asked if any relatives needed to apply for teaching positions at schools in Nghe An, Chung would "run" them for them. Hearing that, Ms. Th. asked to apply for her 2 children to teach at a high school in Ky Son district. Chung offered 500 million VND and promised to "run" the job.

However, when checking the admission results of the Nghe An Department of Education and Training, she did not see the names of her two children. When questioned by Ms. Th., Chung said there would be an additional list. Suspicious, Ms. Th. checked and discovered that she had been scammed, so she asked Chung to return the money. After returning 50 million VND to Ms. Th., Chung fled. On December 30, 2021, Nguyen Van Chung was arrested according to the Wanted Decision.

Late confession

On April 18, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Nguyen Van Chung for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property". The trial attracted public attention. In addition to the victims, many people and Chung's colleagues attended.

Victims attending court. Photo: Tran Vu

At the trial, defendant Nguyen Van Chung admitted to the crime as charged in the indictment and apologized to the victims. The defendant affirmed that he had previously “helped” many people get official positions and transfers through his connections, but he was unable to provide evidence.

Regarding the amount of money defrauded and appropriated from the victims, defendant Chung admitted that he had paid off the debt and spent it all on personal expenses. When questioned by the court about the debts, Chung remained silent. The defendant also said that because he had previously been defrauded of money by others, he had defrauded many victims. The defendant stated that he had divorced his wife and was currently unable to repay the victims and promised that "after he gets out of prison, he will earn money to pay back". The defendant expressed remorse and regret for his wrongdoings. At the trial, Chung turned to apologize to the victims.

Attending the trial, the victims stated that because they trusted Chung, they borrowed money from him to help them run errands, transfer schools, and apply for official positions. Many victims are now having to repay large sums of money because they had previously borrowed money from the bank to give to Chung. “I demand that the defendant return the money to us,” one victim said in court.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s criminal behavior was dangerous to society and disregarded the law and order of the State. In this case, the defendant had aggravating circumstances, such as committing the crime twice or more. However, it is also necessary to consider mitigating circumstances for the defendant, such as his honest confession, remorse, his work history, and his father being a war invalid.

After a comprehensive review of the case, the People's Court sentenced defendant Nguyen Van Chung to 18 years in prison for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property”. In civil matters, the court ordered the defendant to return the money to the victims.

In addition to this fraudulent act, during the investigation, Nguyen Van Chung confessed to receiving money from 12 other individuals to send them to work seasonally for 6 months in Norway. Chung then handed over this money to a man (whose specific background has not been determined) to complete the procedures to send the above workers out of the country. This case is being further investigated by the police and will be handled later.

It can be seen that the defendant's fraudulent behavior of appropriating property has had to pay a price. However, this is also a warning lesson for many people, not because of being too impatient in transferring schools, getting into the payroll... but trusting people who do not have the function, then losing money, and getting nowhere.