Teacher Jailed for Stealing Students’ Money to Buy Crypto

[TomPluz]

A South Korean court has jailed a teacher who stole money from students and their parents to “squander” on crypto purchases. The court ordered the teacher to serve two years in jail, after hearing he had stolen 80 million won ($54,500) and spent most of the money on unnamed cryptoassets.

The court heard that the teacher “embezzled” the money from students and their parents, as well as “fraudulently selling second-hand goods” in an “online scam” worth approximately 7 million won ($4,770).

The court dismissed the defendant’s appeal, noting that the judge in the teacher’s previous trial had already “taken the defendant’s remorse into account.”

More of this story here at Cryptonews.

Aside from not borrowing and using other people's money in investing in cryptocurrency, another thing that we should not do is to steal money from students and parents as this is a sure-hit formula for great tragedy. I am sure this teacher was then thinking that he can be able to recover the money invested with good profit but the market was not so kind to him. Instead of teaching his students on financial literacy and the many opportunities and risks in cryptocurrency, this teacher has become a big disgrace to his community. Lessons learned: never be a teacher that steals money for crypto.

[bitterguy28]

honestly the involvement of crypto here is not that crucial because he just committed a crime yes with the intention of buying crypto but at the very end he still just really committed a crime and whether he bought crypto or not with the stolen money he still should be convicted guilty

I am sure this teacher was then thinking that he can be able to recover the money invested with good profit but the market was not so kind to him. Instead of teaching his students on financial literacy and the many opportunities and risks in cryptocurrency, this teacher has become a big disgrace to his community. Lessons learned: never be a teacher that steals money for crypto.

lesson learned should be to just not steal at all no matter for what

and i do not know if he had any intentions of bringing the money back, did he? he did promise his students and parents that he will resolve their financial problems but if he had been successful in crypto would he have given the money back?

[Amug123]

honestly the involvement of crypto here is not that crucial because he just committed a crime yes with the intention of buying crypto but at the very end he still just really committed a crime and whether he bought crypto or not with the stolen money he still should be convicted guilty

I am sure this teacher was then thinking that he can be able to recover the money invested with good profit but the market was not so kind to him. Instead of teaching his students on financial literacy and the many opportunities and risks in cryptocurrency, this teacher has become a big disgrace to his community. Lessons learned: never be a teacher that steals money for crypto.

lesson learned should be to just not steal at all no matter for what

and i do not know if he had any intentions of bringing the money back, did he? he did promise his students and parents that he will resolve their financial problems but if he had been successful in crypto would he have given the money back?

you're absolutely right,  stealing is never acceptable regardless of the reason or potential outcome,  the teacher action was a clear breach of trust, even if he was to be successful  in his crypto investment, it unlikely he would have returned the money, his actions show a lack of integrity. the teacher's punishment serves him right.

[Charles-Tim]

Maybe he was attracted to the solana meme coins. Not knowing they are gambling scheme like casino games. He lost the money and was given 2 years in jail.

Even be it any coin, it is not good to use borrowed money or other people's money to invest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But worth knowing that most altcoins are gambling.

[target]

The trend is not his friend but he was trying to make money out of crypto and use the money he didn't own. The timing wasn't right in doing it but he would be confident in repaying it if he just made money out of it.

Too bad he is caught in the dip that took months.  He was tempted by the unrealized gains, he could have just use his money or loan to have more of whatever assets he is buying.

[Charles-Tim]

Too bad he is caught in the dip that took months.  He was tempted by the unrealized gains, he could have just use his money or loan to have more of whatever assets he is buying.

Loan is also very bad for investing on cryptocurrencies. The best is to use his own money for it and be contented with it. Even using the money that is not directly belonging to him like a loan can let him make  wrong decisions in his investment because he will be expecting urgent profit. And one of the reasons for losses in crypto is lack of patience which he will not have.

[ABCbits]

What a shame, this teacher betray trust of it's student and their parents. But i wonder whether this teacher was under false assumption that cryptocurrency is anonymous/not trackable by default, including the buy/sell process.

[Baofeng]

What a shame, this teacher betray trust of it's student and their parents. But i wonder whether this teacher was under false assumption that cryptocurrency is anonymous/not trackable by default, including the buy/sell process.

Similar news here in our country, one teacher is involved in a crime. So it's really sad to hear this kind of news as obviously teacher is like our second parent as we spent a lot of time with them throughout our school years.

Maybe the teacher was not really adept on crypto and all he hear is that maybe he can get rich and get away from spending those money and perhaps return it without any one noticing it.

[Z-tight]

This is what the article says:

The prosecution explained that the teacher had discovered that some of their students had “financial problems.” The teacher then deceived the students by saying that they would resolve these problems, taking funds from students and their parents alike

So these students had financial problems, yet the teacher was able to steal ~ 80 million won from them, the article does not state exactly how the scam was perpetrated. However, from this excerpt, i think it could be a money doubling scam or investment scam, since it is stated that the victims had financial problems, maybe they were trying to double the little one they had.

[Lucius]

~snip~
So these students had financial problems, yet the teacher was able to steal ~ 80 million won from them, the article does not state exactly how the scam was perpetrated.

We are talking about South Korea and the amount is only $54 500, and that is not a lot of money in the country because that amount is only slightly higher than the average salary for the year 2024. If we take into account that about 100 students are included in everything (assumption), then about $500 per student is not money that was difficult to get - even from those who have financial problems.

I don't know the background to the story, but it's possible that the professor may have wanted to help the students, of course while helping himself at the same time. However, investing in cryptocurrencies is a risky business, especially if you "gamble" with other people's money.

[Rruchi man]

Lessons learned: never be a teacher that steals money for crypto.

Stealing in all forms is bad, even if it was the student who stole the money from the teacher. Even if the money was used in buying cryptocurrency or even food. It is a habit that should never be encouraged because it always puts the victim in pain.

As a teacher, he should have been earning some amount of money to invest in crypto through DCA and not steal. The fact that he stole shows that he is just a thief.

[Bobcrypto]

~snip~
So these students had financial problems, yet the teacher was able to steal ~ 80 million won from them, the article does not state exactly how the scam was perpetrated.

We are talking about South Korea and the amount is only $54 500, and that is not a lot of money in the country because that amount is only slightly higher than the average salary for the year 2024. If we take into account that about 100 students are included in everything (assumption), then about $500 per student is not money that was difficult to get - even from those who have financial problems.

I don't know the background to the story, but it's possible that the professor may have wanted to help the students, of course while helping himself at the same time. However, investing in cryptocurrencies is a risky business, especially if you "gamble" with other people's money.

The most important thing is the crime, whether is small or no. As you may know, a crime remain a crime no matter the amount involved. This is because the criminal will always face jail term if confirmed quity to the crime by the court. I personally think that the teacher went too far to steal student money; he should have taken other options if he so love investing on cryptocurrency like borrowing, or selling his property.
I think this guy became desperate having heard of cryptocurrency investments, however, cryptocurrency is not a get rich quick syndrome, there are basic lessons to acquire to effectively trade/invest on crypto assets, there is no short cut for investments.

[Faisal2202]

Aside from not borrowing and using other people's money in investing in cryptocurrency, another thing that we should not do is to steal money from students and parents as this is a sure-hit formula for great tragedy. I am sure this teacher was then thinking that he can be able to recover the money invested with good profit but the market was not so kind to him. Instead of teaching his students on financial literacy and the many opportunities and risks in cryptocurrency, this teacher has become a big disgrace to his community. Lessons learned: never be a teacher that steals money for crypto.

Well, so such small news are also being published by News outlets, as for me the amount if not that big and he just embezzled the money, I know it happened in a country where rules are strict and media don't leave a leaf unturn, but this is too much, well, the teacher must be an idiot too, who did such a thing with the money their students have entrusted him with.

Same case happened in my place too, here a shopkeeper collects money of electricity in their place, and used that money to bet in a game in which people earn money by some kind of plane animation and made some x (returns quickly) don't know the game name.

But he was betting and didn't know for how long, but only this time, he lost it all, and after few days when people were notified that they had not paid the bill, they questioned it, and he said I was hacked, well then later he accepted, and he learned his lesson the hard way, as we have community meetings when something like this happens, and he have to pay the bill from his pocket now no one pays bill via him, he lost the trust.

[Z-tight]

However, investing in cryptocurrencies is a risky business, especially if you "gamble" with other people's money.

Yeah it is risky, i still know people who tell me that they want to help their friend or loved one from financial distress by introducing them to cryptocurrency investment. I always recommend that they explain things to these people well, if you introduce crypto to your friends as a get rich quick scheme, you might be on your way to losing your very close friends.

[Zed0X]

Has anyone else tried to look for a more credible source? I cannot find others from my searches. It looks like this 'news' website is fond of writing about theft to purchase crypto as they have similar articles from before. There's also a story about a civil servant stealing flood relief funds to buy crypto.