Is it illegal to use red envelopes printed with Vietnamese currency?

Image of lucky money envelopes printed with Vietnamese currency for sale on Facebook (Screenshot).

Contacting the Fanpage "Cheap Tet Lucky Money 2019", the owner of this website advertises that the "hot" lucky money this year is the one with printed money images. Lucky money envelopes printed with 10,000 VND and 2 USD bills are "sold out" at this business.

“The paper is thick, so you don’t have to worry about the quality when printing on red envelopes. The images are clear and look exactly like real money. The images you see online are real photos taken by us,” he affirmed.

Continuing to talk to reporters, the store owner warned that if the lucky money envelopes printed with images of circulating money with denominations of 200,000, 500,000... are printed, produced or traded, it will be a violation of the law. However, customers will “not be affected” if they use lucky money envelopes printed with images of money that are no longer in circulation.

“The 10,000 VND lucky money is no longer in circulation, so you can use it freely, it’s okay. Just research and if you like any design, inbox us. If you want a new design according to your needs, the number of printed copies must be 12,000 or more,” this person said.

On the personal Facebook page named ZHYH, many images of lucky money envelopes printed with Vietnamese currency and illustrative clips are continuously posted. According to the owner of this account, the retail price is 5,000 VND/1 envelope. To buy in large quantities, customers will have to contact to discuss privately.

Lawyers have conflicting views

According to lawyer Tran Xuan Tien, it is inevitable that the design of lucky money envelopes will change and follow trends. The custom of giving lucky money at the beginning of the new year is an indispensable part of Vietnamese culture. However, printing lucky money envelopes with the image of Vietnamese currency is illegal.

“In Clause 3, Article 3 of Decision 130/2003/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister on the protection of Vietnamese currency, it is stated that it is forbidden to photocopy Vietnamese currency for any purpose without prior written approval from the State Bank,” Mr. Tien said.

In addition, lawyer Tien said that copying Vietnamese currency for any purpose without prior written approval from the State Bank will be subject to administrative penalties.

“This act can be fined from 40 to 80 million VND according to Clause 4, Article 31 of Decree 96/2014/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions in the field of currency and banking. The additional penalty is to confiscate all evidence and means of committing the violation. At the same time, all evidence and means used to commit the act must be destroyed and the illegal profits obtained must be paid to the state budget,” said lawyer Tien.

"500k lucky money envelope" with full patterns and details of real money

“Article 3, Clause 3 of Decision 130/2003/QD-TTg stipulates that it is forbidden to photocopy Vietnamese currency for any purpose... However, the behavior of the people in this case is to print on red envelopes, not to photocopy,” Mr. Duc commented.

According to lawyer Duc, the printing of Vietnamese currency is mentioned in Clause 4, Article 31 of Decree 96/2014/ND-CP. The act of printing part or all of the images, details, and patterns of Vietnamese currency that are not in accordance with the law will be subject to administrative penalties.

“However, in order to punish violators, competent authorities will rely on legal grounds on how the printing is not in accordance with the law. Meanwhile, there is no legal document regulating this behavior,” said Mr. Duc.

Faced with the image of red envelopes printed with Vietnamese currency being widely sold, lawyer Truong Thanh Duc advised people to raise their vigilance to avoid being taken advantage of by criminals, using red envelopes that look like real money for transactions, causing economic losses.