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Medium reported severity Involving minors Investigation Opened

Vietnamese police open a criminal case after an exam candidate streamed his graduation exam paper to a friend who solved it with ChatGPT

On 26 June 2025, during the literature paper of Vietnam's national high school graduation exam in Lam Dong province, an invigilator caught an 18-year-old candidate using a hidden button camera and wireless earpiece and suspended him from the exam. According to the provincial police account reported by Bao Lam Dong and VnExpress, he had streamed the paper to a 17-year-old friend at an internet cafe, who photographed part of it, used the ChatGPT app to solve it and read the answers to him over a Messenger call. On 27 June 2025 the Lam Dong police security investigation agency opened a criminal case for intentionally disclosing and appropriating state secrets, because unreleased graduation exam papers are classified; police said initially that only the two young people were involved and that they had found no further sharing of the paper. Neither is named.

AI system
ChatGPT
Occurred
26 Jun 2025
Reported
27 June 2025
Event location
Vietnam
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Educational HarmLegal Harm
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Education · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 1 underlying account
4 claims: 4 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
2 people

AI system as recorded: ChatGPT app, which the candidate's friend used to solve photographed pages of the literature exam paper and whose answers were read to the candidate over a call (per the Lam Dong police account as reported)

What Happened

The exam. According to the Lam Dong provincial police account reported by Bao Lam Dong, an invigilator noticed unusual behaviour by an 18-year-old candidate during the literature paper of the 2025 national high school graduation exam on the morning of 26 June 2025, suspected him of using high-tech devices, reported it to the head of the exam centre and recorded a suspension from the exam. Police say that, under pressure to do well, he had bought a wireless earpiece and a button camera on Facebook and asked a 17-year-old friend to solve and read out the answers.

The ChatGPT use. The friend waited at a public internet cafe but, playing a game, noticed the live video of the paper only about 45 minutes later. He photographed part of the paper (page 2 according to Bao Lam Dong; two pages according to VnExpress), used the ChatGPT app to solve it and read the answers to the candidate over a Messenger call. The invigilator seized the devices.

The criminal case. Because unreleased graduation exam papers are classified as top-secret state documents until two-thirds of the exam time has passed, the provincial police security investigation agency opened a criminal case on 27 June 2025 for intentionally disclosing and appropriating state secrets. Police said initially that only the two young people were involved and that the paper had not been sent to others or posted online. VnExpress International reported that the 18-year-old was under investigation. At a national press conference the same day, a Ministry of Public Security official said three other candidates elsewhere had photographed parts of exam papers and sent them to AI apps, and that they admitted the violations.

Reported harm

An 18-year-old candidate was suspended from Vietnam's national graduation exam and police opened a criminal case for disclosing state secrets in which they said only he and a 17-year-old friend were involved after the friend used ChatGPT to solve the streamed exam paper, according to the Lam Dong police account.

Outcome

Unknown

The candidate was suspended from the exam on 26 June 2025 and the Lam Dong provincial police security investigation agency opened a criminal case under Article 337(2) of the Penal Code on 27 June 2025. VnExpress reported that the 18-year-old was under investigation. No charge, trial or later decision about the two young people was found in a search on 23 October 2026.

What remains unknown

  • Whether either young person was later charged as a defendant, and the outcome of the criminal case.
  • Whether the candidate's exam results were annulled and how the suspension affected his university admission.
  • What ChatGPT produced and how much of it the candidate copied.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The harm is the exam authorities' and police's response to cheating in which ChatGPT solved the exam paper, reviewed as a consequential response. According to the police account reported by Bao Lam Dong and VnExpress, the friend uploaded photographs of the streamed paper to the ChatGPT app, which produced the answers he read to the candidate in the exam room. The suspension was for using high-tech devices, and the criminal offence named is the disclosure and appropriation of the classified paper, which the scheme sent outside the room and into ChatGPT.

4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported During the literature paper of the 2025 national high school graduation exam on 26 June 2025 in Lam Dong province, an invigilator caught an 18-year-old candidate using high-tech devices and recorded his suspension from the exam.

Causal attribution. The provincial police and exam account as reported.

  • vnexpress.net(opens in new tab) supports · Vietnamese
    'Giám thị phát hiện thí sinh nam 18 tuổi sử dụng thiết bị công nghệ cao để gian lận nên lập biên bản, đình chỉ thi ngay lập tức.'
  • baolamdong.vn(opens in new tab) supports · Vietnamese
    'nghi vấn sử dụng thiết bị công nghệ cao để gian lận thi cử nên đã báo cáo Trưởng điểm thi kiểm tra, lập biên bản đình chỉ thi với trường hợp trên.'
Reported The candidate streamed the exam paper through a hidden button camera to a 17-year-old friend at an internet cafe, who photographed part of it, used the ChatGPT app to solve it and read the answers to him over a Messenger call.

Causal attribution. Police account of the scheme, from the candidate's statements and their investigation; the outlets differ on whether one page or two were captured.

  • baolamdong.vn(opens in new tab) supports · Vietnamese
    'sau đó tải về, sử dụng ứng dụng ChatGPT để giải đề, đọc đáp án qua cuộc gọi Messenger'
  • vnexpress.net(opens in new tab) supports · Vietnamese
    'Người này chỉ chụp được hai trang đề, rồi dùng ứng dụng Chat GPT giải, đọc đáp án.'
  • e.vnexpress.net(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He only captured two pages of the exam and then used the ChatGPT app to solve and read the answers.'; 'He then instructed another teen, aged 17, to use the device to assist in solving and reading the answers to the exam questions.'
Reported On 27 June 2025 the Lam Dong provincial police opened a criminal case for intentionally disclosing and appropriating state secrets under Article 337(2) of the Penal Code, because unreleased graduation exam papers are classified; police said only the two young people were involved.

Causal attribution. The opening of the criminal case is the police's official act as reported by the provincial paper (the decision itself was not inspected); no charge or outcome is reported.

  • baolamdong.vn(opens in new tab) supports · Vietnamese
    'Công an tỉnh Lâm Đồng đã ra quyết định khởi tố vụ án hình sự “Cố ý làm lộ bí mật nhà nước; chiếm đoạt bí mật nhà nước”'; 'Bước đầu, cơ quan Công an đánh giá chỉ có 2 trường hợp'
  • e.vnexpress.net(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'The 18-year-old is currently under investigation for "deliberate disclosure of classified information, appropriation of classified documents" in relation to the national high school graduation exam held on Thursday and Friday.'
Reported A Ministry of Public Security official said three other candidates at two exam centres photographed parts of exam papers and sent them to AI apps to solve, and that they admitted the violations; he called it a minor incident that did not affect the exam's security.

Causal attribution. Context from the ministry press conference; the three other candidates are separate events.

  • e.vnexpress.net(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'authorities had also identified three other candidates at two different exam centers who used their phones to take pictures of part of the exam questions and sent them to AI apps to solve. All three students admitted to their violations.'; 'while this was a minor incident that did not affect the security or safety of the exam'

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Vietnamese by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-23 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. Báo Lâm Đồng (provincial newspaper), 27 Jun 2025; HTTP 200, full text read. Gives the provincial police account; the body uses the young people's initials, which this record omits. Applies to s1.

Read in Vietnamese by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-23 and translated by the research agent (an AI) into English; no human translator or reviewer was involved. VnExpress, 27 Jun 2025; HTTP 200, full text read. Relays the same police account and the ministry press conference. Applies to s2.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-23; HTTP 200, full text read. English version of the VnExpress report of the same police account. Applies to s3.

Event countries: Vietnam. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The exam centre is in Lam Dong province, Vietnam, and the investigating agency is the Lam Dong provincial police (Bao Lam Dong; VnExpress). No court is involved yet.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-23: Published as a consequential-response case: an exam suspension and a criminal case opened after a candidate's friend used ChatGPT to solve the streamed graduation exam paper, according to the Lam Dong police account reported by the provincial paper and VnExpress. The two young people are not named.

People described

An 18-year-old exam candidate suspended from the exam and a 17-year-old friend who used ChatGPT, the two people police said were involved in a criminal case opened in Lam Dong province (neither named)

People reported harmed in this case

2 people

1 AI participant · 1 other person harmed

Two people: the 17-year-old friend who used ChatGPT (participant user) and the 18-year-old candidate who received its answers and was suspended from the exam (other person); police say the case concerns only these two (Bao Lam Dong). The three other candidates mentioned by the ministry official are separate events and are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#chatgpt#exam-cheating#graduation-exam#criminal-investigation#vietnam#students

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Vietnamese police open a criminal case after an exam candidate streamed his graduation exam paper to a friend who solved it with ChatGPT. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-lam-dong-vietnam-exam-candidate-streamed-paper-to-friend-who-solved-it-with-chatgpt-criminal-case-opened

BibTeX

@misc{2025_lam_dong_vietnam_exam_candidate_streamed_paper_to_friend_who_solved_it_with_chatgpt_criminal_case_opened,
  title = {Vietnamese police open a criminal case after an exam candidate streamed his graduation exam paper to a friend who solved it with ChatGPT},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-lam-dong-vietnam-exam-candidate-streamed-paper-to-friend-who-solved-it-with-chatgpt-criminal-case-opened}
}

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