Warning about strangers offering money and approaching students at school gates

Ho Chi Minh City – A 5th-grade student at Ha Huy Giap Primary School was given 20,000 VND by a stranger and gave it to her teacher. Afterwards, the female teacher showed signs of dizziness and drowsiness.

Ms. Nguyen Hoang Yen, Principal of Ha Huy Giap Primary School in District 12, said the incident happened a week ago.

According to a fifth-grade student, at around 6:00 AM on November 15th, at the back gate of To Ngoc Van Secondary School in District 12 (where the fifth-grade students are temporarily studying), a woman with her face covered approached and offered the student 20,000 VND, saying, "Here's some money for your breakfast." The student said she had already had breakfast and refused the money, but the woman insisted.

At that moment, a parent dropping their child off at school noticed something suspicious and approached, whereupon the woman fled. The student then returned the 20,000 dong to the homeroom teacher. The teacher disinfected the banknote with alcohol and threw it in the trash. A short while later, the teacher experienced dizziness, headache, and drowsiness.

"The school has worked with the local police to coordinate measures to ensure the security and safety of students before and after school each day in the surrounding area," Ms. Yen said.

According to Ms. Yen, after working with the police and realizing that this could be a tactic used by criminals to approach and abduct students, the school immediately issued a warning to parents.

Homeroom teachers are required to take attendance at the beginning of the school day and contact parents directly if a student is absent without notice. The school also tells students to wait for their parents in the school yard and not to follow or accept toys or candy from strangers. Parents should notify the homeroom teacher in advance if they ask someone else to pick up their child.

In March of this year, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training also issued a similar warning after a student reported being approached by a stranger at the school gate, lured into a car under the pretext that "their father had been in an accident." Prior to this, using the same scenario of "the child is in emergency care, money needs to be transferred urgently," many parents in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang were tricked into transferring billions of dong by fraudsters.

Le Nguyen

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