More schools in Hanoi suspected by parents of distributing fake books

English book printed in 2024 but authenticated from 2023

Specifically, Ms. Vu Thi Lieu (local, character name changed) said that at the end of May 2025, after registering, the homeroom teacher of grade 4 (school year 2024 - 2025) at Concrete Primary School gave her child a set of textbooks for grade 5, school year 2025 - 2026 with 23 books. The total cost of this set of books is more than 530,000 VND.

Thêm nhiều trường học ở Hà Nội bị phụ huynh nghi phát sách giả - Ảnh 1. — Parents suspect these English books are fake

On August 13, after Thanh Nien Newspaper reported on the incident where parents suspected that Xuan Mai A Primary School (Xuan Mai Commune) distributed fake books, Ms. Lieu checked her child's 5th grade textbooks and discovered that only 2/23 books had the QR code printed on the back cover of the book scannable.

However, on August 14, when checking again, Ms. Lieu found that only the English book, volume 2, was faulty. The remaining 22 books had QR codes scanned, confirming that she was the first person to activate the product.

Checking the English book volume 2, Ms. Lieu discovered that she could not scratch off the silver layer where the activation code was located. In particular, when scanning the QR code, the phone immediately received a notification that the code was fake and the system reminded her "do not buy this book".

Continuing to use her phone to scan the QR code printed on the back cover of the book, Ms. Lieu received a warning "not the first person to authenticate this publication".

Clicking to view the authentication history, Ms. Lieu saw that with the code V39XETCUYQ9NL, there were more than 200 authentications, the first of which took place in August 2023. Meanwhile, the information on the last page of the book shows that this book was printed and submitted for deposit in April 2024, printed by Can Tho General Printing Joint Stock Company, located in Can Tho City.

"I hope the school will give a reasonable and satisfactory answer and conclude whether the English book volume 2 given to my child is real or fake? I cannot afford to pay real money and then receive a fake book," Ms. Lieu expressed.

Thêm nhiều trường học ở Hà Nội bị phụ huynh nghi phát sách giả - Ảnh 2. — When parents scan the QR code behind the book cover, a warning appears that the code is fake.

Notably, not only Concrete Primary School, a parent named Nguyen Thi Tham (character's name has been changed) also suspected that Xuan Mai A Secondary School distributed fake English books to her child.

According to Ms. Tham, her son's 6th grade textbook set, 2025-2026 course, was distributed last July, when she went to submit her son's admission application. The set of 21 books cost about 390,000 VND in total.

On August 15, Ms. Tham took out the book set to check and found that the two English books, Volume 1 and Volume 2, were suspected to be counterfeit because they had the same serial number N241-LY42-7BFA. When scanning the QR code, she received a warning that the code was counterfeit. In addition, she could not scratch off the silver layer printed on the book cover to activate it.

Faced with parents' suspicions that the school was distributing fake books, on August 16, Thanh Nien reporters contacted the leaders of Be Tong Primary School and Xuan Mai A Secondary School. Upon receiving the information, the leaders of these two schools said they would conduct an inspection and respond with specific information later.

Many books have QR codes scanned, but English books still have errors.

Regarding the suspected incident at Xuan Mai A Primary School distributing fake books, on August 14, Ms. Hoang Thi Lan (local) said that the 18 5th grade books, course 2025 - 2026 (no English books yet) distributed by the school to her child had the QR code printed on the back cover of the book scanned.

Previously, only 5/18 books she received from the school could be accessed, the remaining 13 books could not have their QR codes scanned.

Thêm nhiều trường học ở Hà Nội bị phụ huynh nghi phát sách giả - Ảnh 3. — Ms. Hoang Thi Lan's old 4th grade English book is suspected to be counterfeit. There is no QR code on the cover of the book and when scratching the silver layer, there is no activation code, and a printed plastic layer appears in the position where the code is taken.

However, she still suspects that the 3 old 4th grade English books (2024-2025 class) distributed by Xuan Mai A Primary School are fake.

Accordingly, there is a silver layer behind the English book cover, but when scratched, the activation code does not appear. In particular, there is a book where when scratched, a layer of nylon is revealed.

After Thanh Nien reported on the situation where parents at Xuan Mai A Primary School suspected that the school distributed fake books, forcing them to buy new books, Mr. Chu Van Khang, Vice Chairman of Xuan Mai Commune People's Committee, said that he had sent officials to verify and asked the school to report on the book distribution.

During the working process, the leaders of Xuan Mai A Primary School committed to providing books of the right quality for the students.

Regarding the previous incident, when parents scanned the QR code on the books provided by the school but could not trace the origin, it was because the link was broken. "After receiving comments, the company that provided the books to the school said that it had restored this link. The commune also sent staff to re-scan the QR code for the school's books and all information was retrieved," said Mr. Khang.

According to Mr. Khang, regarding the information that English books distributed by schools to parents are still suspected to be fake, the commune will send officials to continue checking and working with relevant parties. "If there are signs of counterfeiting, we will handle it thoroughly," Mr. Khang affirmed.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/them-nhieu-truong-o-ha-noi-bi-phu-huynh-nghi-phat-sach-gia-185250816092801526.htm