Tran Ha Linh, a final-year student of the Hanoi University of Culture, has received five contracts to act as a girlfriend during Tet. These three to four hour assignments earns her VND1 million (USD47.6) a go, helping with her Tet financing. She has decided to remain in Hanoi on the occasion to play the role of girlfriend to men under family pressure to get married.
A number of students are earning extra cash for Tet by being employed as ‘instant’ girlfriends
Linh said, “By agreeing to be the girlfriend, I only need to go to parties, meetings or appointments with him and then I receive the money.”
Most of the men who hire these fake lovers come from rich families or are of an age to get married but would prefer to remain single. However, as it is Tet they want to find a girlfriend to introduce to their friends and family.
She has outlined the plan for Tet. She will go with 33-year old Tri, a director of a tourism company on Lunar New Year’s Eve. He is happily single, but his parents are urging him to get married. Tri will pay her VND1.5 million (USD71.4) for a four-hour contract valid from 7 am to 11 pm. He has also bought her a dress to wear when coming to meet his parents.
A friend introduced the service to Linh two months a go. She earned VND800,000 (USD38) for the first contract in which she just needed to join a party and visit a karaoke. After that, she could find contracts on her own, instead of spending fees for the brokerage centres.
Many other students like Linh also stay in Hanoi on Tet to work as “temporary girlfriends” to earn money.
Dangers
The job is an easy way for the girls to earn money, however, it also poses dangers. Loan, another student from the Hanoi University of Culture, who has much experience has faced several dangers.
She said, it was normal for her to be hugged and touched by customers. One time, some friends of her customers forced Loan to drink much wine and then they behaved badly with her. Luckily, she remained conscious of the situation and called her friends for help.
Linh also faced an incident recently. She went out with a man who is going to get married soon. After taking a meal, the man took Linh to his company. Feeling tired, Linh came to his room to take a rest, but was shocked to be woken by the man’s future wife. She shouted at and cursed at Linh. As a result, the student had to run away, dropping and damaging her Iphone.
A number of other girls have not received payment from their customers due to the contracts being organised by brokers.
Loan said, “We often get a 50% deposit and the rest after the contract ends. But some customers try to seek reasons to refuse to make the full payment.”
