A Ho Chi Minh City court on Friday sentenced an Iranian man to 13 months in prison for stealing US$1,600 from a bank in the city downtown last year.
Choobani Shirvani Mehdi, 33, was convicted of “stealing property” by the People's Court of HCMC, the media reported.
The case happened in September 2015 when Mehdi came to the Viettinbank’s District 1 Branch on Le Duan Street and asked to exchange $200 into Vietnamese dong.
After the exchange, he continued to ask the teller, Nguyen Dac Quynh Duong, if he could exchange another $100 note for a newer bill that has "a star near the serial number."
Duong gave Mehdi 48 banknotes so that he could chose the one he wanted.
Mehdi instead stole 16 banknotes before returning the rest to Duong and quickly left.
Duong immediately recognized his scam and asked the security guards to arrest him.