A 66-year-old woman who squeezed 16 million won ($13,500) from an acquaintance with the promise of employment for the victim’s nephew was given one year in prison suspended for two years on Monday.

The Jeonju district court said the woman misused her daughter’s position as a university professor to promise employment at the university as part of the management staff.

She is also accused of taking another 16 million won from a group of people with whom she was in a “gye.”

A gye is a traditional form of private fund popular among Koreans in which group members chip in small monthly payments and take turns receiving the sum of the payments.

The court said the defendant had previously committed fraud in 2007, when she was given two years in prison with three years’ probation for a similar misdemeanor.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)