Parents borrow money, the whole school is affected

Even if you don't borrow, you will be "terrorized"

On May 20, speaking with Nghe An Newspaper reporters, Ms. Hoang Phuong Thao - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Vinh City said that recently, she and hundreds of teachers and school board members have been frequently harassed, insulted, and defamed by debt collectors even though they did not borrow money. "We are very upset. Almost every school has been attacked, just like what Nghe An Newspaper reported," Ms. Thao said.

While we were talking to Ms. Thao, within 15 minutes, her phone received 2 harassing calls from debt collectors. “From morning until now, there have been 10 calls like this. It's very annoying. It affects the work of many people. At night, some of us have to put our phones on silent mode to sleep well, others have to turn them off,” Ms. Thao said, adding that she was lucky not to be attacked on social networks because she had carefully set her privacy settings. Meanwhile, her deputy and many principals have had their photos edited by strange Facebook accounts, then have been repeatedly defamed and threatened.

A principal and his child were defamed on Facebook even though they had no debt. Photo: TH

According to Ms. Thao's statistics, in Vinh City alone, there are about 30 schools facing this situation, from high schools to middle schools, elementary schools, and kindergartens. In many schools, all teachers are being harassed. "We checked and found that most of them did not borrow money or borrowed money but have paid it back. Many teachers reported that they lost their ID cards, but they did not borrow money. We called the other numbers but could not get through. While they called us, they kept cursing us, not letting us say a word," Ms. Thao said, adding that the unit had worked with the police many times, but this situation continued, affecting the work as well as the spirit and honor of many people and groups.

Also in Vinh City, Mr. Cao Thanh Bao - Principal of Ha Huy Tap High School said that recently he and all teachers and staff of the school have been exhausted by debt collectors harassing them, even though none of the teachers borrowed money. “The first incident was when they called to inform that a parent of a 12th grade student had borrowed money, demanding that the school take responsibility. They called to threaten the teacher and the school board. Then they took the homeroom teacher's photo to smear on social networks. While the student's parents are divorced, we don't know if the parent borrowed money or not, because we are not responsible for managing that matter,” said Mr. Bao.

The image of a kindergarten teacher and her mother in Nam Dan was printed and posted on an electric pole, then photographed and posted on social media. Photo: TH

After that, the debt collectors continued to attack the school because they thought that a family member of a teacher in the school had borrowed money. “My school has 101 teachers and staff, and all of them received harassing phone calls. Every time we picked up the phone, they cursed us, not allowing us to say a word. They also posted pictures of me and many teachers online, falsely accusing me of borrowing money, then insulting and threatening me,” Mr. Bao shook his head in dismay. The principal and many teachers then had to contact the network operator to block the harassing phone numbers, however, the debt collectors used many other numbers. The school later reported the incident to the police with a lot of evidence.

Need to deal with it thoroughly

In Cua Lo town, Mr. Phung Duc Nhan - Head of the town's Department of Education and Training said that he and many officials and teachers are also very upset about this situation. Most recently, debt collectors continuously called to threaten Mr. Nhan and many officials, because they thought that a kindergarten teacher in the area owed them money. "They spoke very rudely, cursed and insulted me and many people. However, when we went down to verify, this teacher assured that she did not borrow money from anyone. This teacher said that she lost her phone, maybe the bad guys got her information," Mr. Nhan said and said that because of this incident, more than 40 people, including all the teachers of that school, leaders of the Department of Education and Training and leaders of the Department were harassed by phone calls. The unit then reported the incident to the local police.

Similarly, the leaders of the Department of Education and Training of localities such as Yen Thanh, Nam Dan, Tuong Duong... Among them, many schools also admitted that teachers in the school borrowed money, but many schools affirmed that the teachers had pledged not to borrow money, but all teachers and school leaders were also "terrorized".

Police report from a school in Nam Dan. Photo: TH

“We are very upset. We can’t stop them all because they use too many numbers. We hope the police will step in to completely handle this problem so that teachers can feel secure in teaching,” said Mr. Tran Xuan Tinh, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Yen Thanh District.

Not only schools and local education and training departments are harassed, from leaders to experts at the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An province also face the same situation. Mr. Nguyen Trong Be - Head of the Political and Ideological Department (Department of Education and Training of Nghe An) said that in the unit, most of the staff are harassed. The debt collectors not only call and text continuously, they also send a series of emails to each individual.

“In Nghe An province, almost every locality is facing this situation. Everyone is very upset. Through verification, there are many cases where they did not borrow money, but they still "terrorized" the whole school. In addition, there are also some teachers who really borrowed money, but even so, it is not allowed for one debtor to call and harass hundreds of people like that. In the past, on the one hand, we have also issued many documents warning teachers not to borrow money from organizations without reputation, black credit organizations, and on the other hand, we have also had many meetings with representatives of Nghe An Provincial Police. However, this situation continues to recur, affecting teaching and learning," said Mr. Be, at the same time requesting that the authorities quickly intervene to completely handle this problem.

Mr. Be's email is full of debt collection letters. Photo: Tien Hung

According to the investigation of Nghe An Newspaper reporters, not only the Education sector, but also many officials, employees and people in the province are "terrorized" by debt collectors even though they did not borrow. Among them, some department, sector and local leaders are also harassed continuously even though they are not involved.

Previously, on May 18 and 19, Nghe An Newspaper published a series of articles reflecting on the gangster-style debt collection of FE Credit (Vietnam Prosperity Bank Finance Company Limited, a subsidiary of Vietnam Prosperity Bank - VPBank). In particular, many principals, although not borrowing money, were "terrorized" by phone and then slandered and insulted on social networks. Some teachers even had to resign because they could not stand the pressure. After posting, Nghe An Newspaper received a series of reflections, they were also victims of this situation.