Teacher Jailed for Stealing Students’ Money to Buy Crypto

[DYING_S0UL]

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.

On what pretense did this teacher ask the students and teachers for the money? As far as I know, only the school administration can ask the students and parents to pay (for tuition, books, whatever). Why is this guy asking for loans and grants himself? And most importantly, how was he able to solicit that much money in the first place?

Those are good question, but the news doesn't answer any of it. The amount of stolen money isn't that much (compared with average salary on South Korea), although i would speculate there are loophole the teacher could exploit (e.g. asking money for educational tour).

I googled a bit and asked copilot what was the average salary of a teacher in south Korea and this was what I got, for public school the salaries ranges from $1,100 to $2,000 and for private school the salaries are slightly higher ranging from $1,400- $1,700. In some cases it could go to $3,500. So you see the money stolen apparently huge.

Anyway, I don't think education tour alone would be enough to ask for $5,400. There must be more story to it. More hidden corruption.

[bitterguy28]

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.

On what pretense did this teacher ask the students and teachers for the money? As far as I know, only the school administration can ask the students and parents to pay (for tuition, books, whatever). Why is this guy asking for loans and grants himself? And most importantly, how was he able to solicit that much money in the first place?

it said that the teacher specifically targeted financially struggling families and told them he could solve their financial problems had he been given their money

i do not know if there is cultural divide here but it is very common for teachers to be in contact with their students' parents going as far to talking personal things with each other so it is not a shock that the teacher could ask for money from his students' families especially if the school is not that big and only hosts a few students

[robelneo]

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.

If there's such a thing as gambling addiction, there's also such a thing as investing addiction, but unfortunately for the teacher, he is betting on the wrong coins instead of the most proven coins in the market. He wants quick profit from his investment, and it badly backfires on him; not only does he lose his license to teach, but with his bad record, he will have a hard time finding a job.

[Stuart]

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.

On what pretense did this teacher ask the students and teachers for the money? As far as I know, only the school administration can ask the students and parents to pay (for tuition, books, whatever). Why is this guy asking for loans and grants himself? And most importantly, how was he able to solicit that much money in the first place?

it said that the teacher specifically targeted financially struggling families and told them he could solve their financial problems had he been given their money

i do not know if there is cultural divide here but it is very common for teachers to be in contact with their students' parents going as far to talking personal things with each other so it is not a shock that the teacher could ask for money from his students' families especially if the school is not that big and only hosts a few students

I think the school management permitted a close relationship between teachers/staff members to students and parents, which is not bad, (as most students can confide on their teachers, while parents wants to have a watch eye on their children as well), but the distance of leaving the school environment and educational matters to start discussing about financial matters, to the point of convincing the students and parents for such an amount siphoned from them, is still disturbing.

If a teacher is to discuss anything related to money with parents whose children are students of a school, it should be about school fees, textbooks or something related, and not financial advise or suggestions.

Let's say he had just convinced the parents on making investment themselves, without telling them it is not financially advised, then the parents will know how to make their approach towards it.

The only way he can probably stand on his feet shortly is if the coins he invested into turns out better profit when the market goes high, cause his teaching career/profession is gone with no return.

[Kemarit]

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.

On what pretense did this teacher ask the students and teachers for the money? As far as I know, only the school administration can ask the students and parents to pay (for tuition, books, whatever). Why is this guy asking for loans and grants himself? And most importantly, how was he able to solicit that much money in the first place?

it said that the teacher specifically targeted financially struggling families and told them he could solve their financial problems had he been given their money

i do not know if there is cultural divide here but it is very common for teachers to be in contact with their students' parents going as far to talking personal things with each other so it is not a shock that the teacher could ask for money from his students' families especially if the school is not that big and only hosts a few students

It's the trust that the teacher has, that's why he was able to talk to the student's family and could have ask fro money. I think in most culture this is the settings, even in the West, somewhat the student and teacher relationships are very close.

So I'm not surprised by it, what surprises is that the teacher abuses his authority. And perhaps he thought that he can help and at the same time, make some here while investing the student's money.

[joniboini]

I thought this case happened in a rural area or something similar; I never thought it occurred in a school located in a popular area like Jeju. Maybe I got the wrong impression because my knowledge of Jeju is limited to romantic spots or a good island for vacation, which implies people living here should be pretty modern. I guess the competition for tourism businesses is fierce hence why some people struggle financially. CMIIW.

This case made me recall how some teachers are depicted in Korean manhwa. I guess there's some truth to that, although corruption can happen everywhere. The soft power a teacher holds over the students and their families is clearly exaggerated, although such things do happen in real life, just like in this case.

[LogitechMouse]

---
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, aside from the lesson that you shared, I also have to share another lesson that we must learn from this one which is "Don't be greedy".

Stealing in general is considered a bad thing, and I would rather borrow funds from another person than stealing it. I mean as much as possible, let's not steal things to other people. This is a general thing, and as for this teacher, it's just good that he went to prison because of what he did. I wonder where did he invested all of those money that he stole, and if it's worth it to steal other people's funds just to have some money to invest.

It's just sad that the teacher did the traditional way of stealing. He could've just created a meme coin during the meme coin hype, then just rug pulled those greedy investors out there. That would be better and what's best is that, he will not be going to jail with that action.

[Nheer]

---
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, aside from the lesson that you shared, I also have to share another lesson that we must learn from this one which is "Don't be greedy".

Stealing in general is considered a bad thing, and I would rather borrow funds from another person than stealing it. I mean as much as possible, let's not steal things to other people. This is a general thing, and as for this teacher, it's just good that he went to prison because of what he did. I wonder where did he invested all of those money that he stole, and if it's worth it to steal other people's funds just to have some money to invest.

It's just sad that the teacher did the traditional way of stealing. He could've just created a meme coin during the meme coin hype, then just rug pulled those greedy investors out there. That would be better and what's best is that, he will not be going to jail with that action.

The teacher is really worth being in jail stealing from your own student and their parents is really a bad character and the crypto currency’s which he invest on is unknown at least we could have checked if really it worth it. I guess mr teacher did a better research which he thought will be more profitable for him that made him invested a lot of money into the asset.

 Creating a meme coin is really also a bad idea cause it also a stealing, cause you will be taking money from investors and after you will rug pulled the coin and make a lot of investor be in loss that really a bad idea. At least have some sympathy some people worked really hard to make this money and within a second you want to get all swept that really a bad idea.  The investor are also humans at least where is your humanity don’t you have fear of god.
Even due he created a meme coin if not enough money to promote the coin with bigger companies then many investors won’t invest in it cause they will really make a deep research so that isn’t a option cause that also a bad idea for the community and crypto and that will make a lot of investors and users run far away from the crypto world and that not what we really want. The crypto world should get bigger and better that what we really want.

[Jating]

This case made me recall how some teachers are depicted in Korean manhwa. I guess there's some truth to that, although corruption can happen everywhere. The soft power a teacher holds over the students and their families is clearly exaggerated, although such things do happen in real life, just like in this case.

It's art imitating life. I mean it could really happen anywhere in the world because teachers has so much respect although in some Western countries, teachers might have abused their power in different ways. And with strict laws, make sense that the verdict for the teacher is jail time. Abuse of trust, then financial fraud, misuse of the money for personal gain. Could also be lessons for teachers in the same school not to do this kind of manipulation.

[joniboini]

And with strict laws, make sense that the verdict for the teacher is jail time. Abuse of trust, then financial fraud, misuse of the money for personal gain. Could also be lessons for teachers in the same school not to do this kind of manipulation.

Yeah, I'm not surprised that some teachers are corrupt because humans are just like that. On the other hand, I heard teachers struggle because their payments aren't so good in South Korea, CMIIW. Hopefully, the government won't stop at punishing people for doing scammy activity like this but also improve their well-being to reduce stuff like this from happening in the future.

[Asiska02]

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.

Never saw this coming, this is very bad and it’s good that the teacher is punished accordingly. He suppose to be the one teaching them against stealing and bad it is, but he’s the one using himself as scapegoat and example of a criminal, he has indeed done something that is worth being penalised without been remorseful about it.

I imagine what he would have been thinking that he did so. Even if the market does favour him and he made a lot of gains from the money stolen to invest in bitcoin, he would definitely be penalized when caught for this behaviour he has exhibited. This is bad and I don’t in any way imagine such can happen in a school settings.

[TravelMug]

And with strict laws, make sense that the verdict for the teacher is jail time. Abuse of trust, then financial fraud, misuse of the money for personal gain. Could also be lessons for teachers in the same school not to do this kind of manipulation.

Yeah, I'm not surprised that some teachers are corrupt because humans are just like that. On the other hand, I heard teachers struggle because their payments aren't so good in South Korea, CMIIW. Hopefully, the government won't stop at punishing people for doing scammy activity like this but also improve their well-being to reduce stuff like this from happening in the future.

Even here in the Philippines, teachers pay are not that good and they are even forced to sell something to their students during break time. However, the previous President tries to alleviate it by increasing their salary.

So this could be a norm in most South East Asian country, but this case though went overboard by exploiting the money of his students and their parents and so he will have to punished and South Korea government sending a big message to their educators.

[Chilwell]

~snip

Based on the story that you narrated, I don't think the teacher has the intention of returning back the money to the student's parents. He stole the money and invest in cryptocurrency for his own benefits, but its sound like things doesn't work out for him. If he collects the money with the concept of the parents the case may be a little bit different, moreover it's not advisable to convince someone to invest in cryptocurrency because its future is uncertain. But still, if it was with the parents concept it would be a different scenario, and they will not use the word "steal" to address the issue.  stealing to invest in cryptocurrency is risky and very shameful and it will bring disgrace to his family.

[bayu7adi]

Wow... as if buying crypto is one of the two crimes mentioned, when in fact there is only one crime, namely the seizure of other people's property... then why is buying crypto such an interesting headline for the news? Even the analogy is almost similar to other illegal activities, such as gambling, narcotics or other negative things... I strongly disagree with the behavior of news portals that seem to corner cryptocurrency to be made into interesting titles...

Even though it is true news, at least the news portal should be more careful in creating the title, because I am sure there are some parties who do not agree with the context.

[Solomon Wealthy]

Exactly — borrowing money for crypto is a fast track to disaster, especially with volatile stuff like meme coins. Most of them are no different from spinning a roulette wheel, just wrapped in hype. Bitcoin’s one thing, but altcoins — especially the meme variety — are pure speculation. Smart to treat them like a gamble, not an investment.