A file photo, provided by Yonhap News TV, of a TOEIC test site (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jul. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — A former tutor of the English-language test TOEIC was sentenced to three years in prison for secretly giving exam answers to 18 test-takers in exchange for some 80 million won (US$57,776), court records showed Thursday.
The 27-year-old, identified only by the surname Hong, was indicted on charges of luring test-takers through a social media ad, saying it is possible to receive a high score on TOEIC, and secretly handing them answers on 23 occasions from July 2021 to Oct. 2022.
Hong allegedly used toilet breaks during tests to send a photo of his answer sheet to the clients via a mobile phone hidden in restrooms, and the test-takers also received the answers through their phones hidden in bathrooms.
In some cases, Hong handed over answer sheets by hiding them in bathrooms.
Hong was paid around 1.5 million won to 5 million won per client, earning a total of 80 million won.
The Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced Hong to prison and a forfeiture of around 76 million won, saying he repeatedly committed the crimes for a considerable period of time after elaborately premeditating them.
The court also sentenced the 18 clients to pay fines of up to 10 million won.
(Yonhap)
