Exclusive: Tutor who faked medical degree — just like in 'Parasite' — gets prison term

A private tutor who forged a university degree certificate using Microsoft Paint to pose as a medical school graduate — mirroring a scene from the film "Parasite" — has had a prison sentence confirmed.

The third criminal division of the Gwangju District Court sentenced the defendant, identified only as A, to 10 months in prison in late August on charges of obstruction of business, forgery of electronic records and use of forged electronic records. The ruling came in the second trial of the case.

A is accused of posing as a medical school graduate on a well-known tutoring platform and conducting 44 tutoring sessions between May and August 2024. The scheme closely resembled a scene in "Parasite" in which a character forges a university certificate to work as a private tutor.

According to facts established by the court, A downloaded an image file of a dental degree from a university off the internet in May of that year. Using the Paint program, A altered the degree title from "Bachelor of Dental Surgery" to "Bachelor of Medicine" and changed the name, birth year, issue date and degree registration number on the document.

The tutoring platform collects a portion of the first month's tutoring fee as a commission only when a session is arranged. Over three months and 44 sessions, A earned 14 million won ($10,500) in first-month fees. A was found to have offered tutoring across a wide range of subjects, including mathematics, essay writing, personal statements, short research papers and university admissions consulting.

The platform permanently banned A immediately after discovering the fraud. A then registered under another person's name and resumed the same scheme, forging a degree certificate once more to arrange further tutoring sessions.

A was found to have brokered an additional 30 tutoring sessions even while the investigation and trial were ongoing. It also emerged during the proceedings that A had made false statements about academic credentials during the investigation.

The first trial, held in November last year, sentenced A to one year in prison.

The first-trial court said A had previously received leniency — including deferred prosecution and fines — for multiple fraud offenses, yet reoffended. It said A's conduct was "extremely poor," having forged a medical degree certificate and used it to arrange numerous tutoring sessions through a major platform.

The court added that A appeared to have earned substantial profits from the offenses and that there was no indication A had made any effort to seek forgiveness from the victim company. It also noted that the victim company had petitioned for a severe sentence, citing A's repeated similar offenses during the investigation and trial, while acknowledging that A's admission of wrongdoing was a mitigating factor.

The sentence was reduced somewhat on appeal. The court took into account, among other factors, that A had deposited 11 million won with the court during the appeal process.

The appeals court noted as an aggravating factor that the victim company had refused to accept A's court deposit and continued to petition for a heavy sentence. However, it found the first-trial sentence somewhat excessive, considering that A had no prior convictions beyond fines and had made the deposit.

The ruling was finalized without appeal. Neither the prosecution nor A challenged the second-trial verdict.