Police in Dong Xuan ward in Ha Noi's Hoan Kiem District caught Le Van Quynh, from northern Hung Yen Province, who used funerary money last month to dupe an Australian tourist out of US$445 and VND5 million ($260).
Quynh approached the tourist in the Old Quarter and offered to show him around. Quynh then said he could exchange money at a higher rate than the banks. The tourist agreed and paid Quynh five hundred Australian dollars, for which Quynh gave him VND6 million in funerary bills.
At the police station, Quynh admitted that he had also cheated other tourists out of VND4 million ($210) using funerary bills in VND500,000 denominations.
Funerary money was once just thin paper printed with images of coins used in the past, but popular funerary notes are now have a rough likenesses to the real thing in colour and design, but include the words "Bank of Hell" on them.
The fake notes are usually packed with 60 notes in one set and sold for VND3,000 ($0.2) per set. They come in multiple denominations, from VND10,000 to VND 500,000, but the most real-looking one is the VND50,000 note.
Tourists aren't the only ones who've been confused with this money. Vietnamese people have been, too. Nguyen Thi Lanh from Dong Anh, a suburb of Ha Noi, said that some relatives came and put a set of VND500,000 on her ancestral altar. She thought that they were real so, after the relative left, she ran out and called after them to take them back.
Prime Minister's Decision No 30/2003/QD-TTg on the protection of Vietnamese currency provides that "the act of copying Vietnamese notes for any purposes and without written agreement from the State Bank of Viet Nam is banned." But in practice the printing funerary money is done without any inspection from any government agencies. A Market Watch officer who asked to remain anonymous said that there were no decrees that specifically regulated the production of funerary notes. — VNS
No comments:
Post a Comment