Nguyen Thanh Phong at the police station. — Photo thanhnien.vn

According to local police, Phong bought the fake money from a Facebook user in early May.

The Facebook user said VND6 million (US$258) would cost VND1 million ($43) of real money, so Phong decided to buy VND18 million ($774) of fake money.

Three days later, Phong received the fake money via express courier service and paid via cash on delivery.

When the shipper was not paying attention, Phong allegedly used VND3 million ($129) of the fake money to pay him.

Next, Phong is reported to have used a fake VND500,000 ($21) note to buy petrol for his motorbike, and then got change of VND450,000 ($19) of real money.

After spending a total of VND3.5 million ($150) of fake money, Phong felt worried police would catch him using the fake cash, so he burned all that he had left.

He was right to have worried, as police arrested Phong on May 16 for circulating fake money.  VNS

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