VietNamNet Bridge – The number of students becoming the victims
of overseas study consultancy firms’ trickeries has been increasing. Meanwhile,
the firms cannot be prosecuted for their swindling, because there has been no
regulation on the punishments.
In most cases, the victims do not
know where they should go and whom they should contact to ask for help.
On the afternoon of October 29, a
lot of parents came to Atlantic’s head office in Thu Dau Mot City of Binh Duong
province to claim the tuitions back. Atlantic introduces itself as an
international education and training school.
The parents said they paid
4000-10,000 dollars’ worth for consultancy fees and the procedures for their
children’s overseas study. The problem is that the money was paid one year ago,
but their children have not received any information about the overseas study.
On VietAbroader.org, a forum of
the Vietnamese students in the US, a member wrote that he followed the
procedures for overseas study via a consultancy firm headquartered on Le Van Sy
Street in HCM City.
The firm’s leaflet says that
every student has to pay 300 dollars for preparing documents and translation
services, and that the procedures would be fulfilled after three months.
However, in fact, when signing
contracts with the firm, clients were asked to pay a series of other kinds of
fees, including the 250 dollars for the translation and communication fee, 700
dollars for remittance service, 400 dollars for other kinds of fees. In order
to get visas, they would have to pay another 1000 dollars.
However, the member of the forum
did not get visa. The firm then asked him to pay 6000 dollars more, ensuring
that he would get visa soon, but the promise did not come true. After a lot of
negotiations, he has claimed 7000 dollars back, while the remaining money has
not been refunded, because he could not show the invoices to prove the payment.
The member of the forum wrote
that he now does not know where he should go to ask for the legal intervention.
There are numerous such
consultancy firms in big cities of Hanoi and HCM City. In 2010, Thanh Nien
newspaper once reported that tens of students were swindled by Thai Overseas
Study Company. The victims said they were told to pay 2700-4000 dollars in
fees, but the firm’s leaders escaped later with the money they collected from
clients.
The HCM City Planning and
Investment Department said that the company has field for dissolution. About 20
people, who are the victims of the overseas study consultancy firm has reported
their cases to the district 10’s police, asking for the intervention.
In February 2011, the district
3’s police sent a dispatch to the HCM City Education and Training Department,
requesting to provide relating documents to help deal with the case where Dong
Duong overseas study consultancy firm was denounced of cheating clients.
M, the denouncer, said the firm
did not have the function of giving consultancy for overseas study, but still
provided the service.
The planning and investment
department answered that Dong Duong Company’s registered business field was
“study consultancy,” but it was not sure if the company had the right to give
consultancy on overseas study.
Under the current regulations,
the local planning and investment department has the function of granting
licenses to overseas study consultancy firms, which says that the firms are put
under the management of the local education departments.
However, there has been no legal
document which confirms the right of education departments in managing the
companies of this kind.
NLD
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