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

Nguyễn Thanh Phong, 20, of Ngọc Hòa Commune, in the Mekong Delta province of Kiên Giang, was recently arrested due to circulating counterfeit money.

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

The Facebook user said VNĐ6 million (US$258) would cost VNĐ1 million ($43) of real money, so Phong decided to buy VNĐ18 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 VNĐ3 million ($129) of the fake money to pay him.

Next, Phong is reported to have used a fake VNĐ500,000 ($21) note to buy petrol for his motorbike, and then got change of VNĐ450,000 ($19) of real money.

After spending a total of VNĐ3.5 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