Police in Ho Chi Minh City proposed filing an indictment against two Vietnamese men for attempting to bring US$1 million in counterfeit banknotes to Thailand for trade.

The two — Nguyen Khac Viet, 47, and Tran Cam Tu, 51 — faced indictment on charges of transporting fake banknotes.

In September 2021, Viet purchased 12 stacks of banknotes, with each stack including 100 notes with a face value of $100 apiece, for VND30 million ($1,230) from a man named Hung at a coffee shop on Nguyen Chi Thanh Street in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City.

After checking the stacks of banknotes at home, Viet found that they were fake.

When Tu visited his house, Viet showed the banknotes to Tu and asked Tu if he knew anyone who traded fake banknotes

However, Tu said he was not acquainted with anyone buying such banknotes.

During a trip to neighboring Cambodia, Tu met a 60-year-old Thai woman named Kim Hen.

In mid-August last year, Kim Hen arrived in Vietnam and made an appointment with Tu in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

Kim Hen asked Tu if he knew anyone selling bogus U.S. banknotes in Vietnam. She wanted to buy 1,000 fake U.S. bills, equivalent to $100,000, at some $5,000 but did not reveal her purpose.

As Kim Hen wanted the banknotes which were the same as those shown by Viet earlier, Tu asked Viet and got that Viet still kept the 12 stacks of fake banknotes.

He urged Viet to bring the banknotes to Thailand for sale without disclosing the specific price, just saying that the price would be higher than VND30 million and they would go half and half in profit. Tu got Viet’s nod.

On September 15, 2022, the two brought two suitcases containing the fake U.S banknotes to Tan Son Nhat International Airport to complete procedures to fly to Thailand when the municipal authorities detected them.

More than 10,500 U.S. banknotes were later checked and concluded to be fake.

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