Cleaning up the account system
Recently, Thai Nguyen Provincial Police dismantled an online fraud ring operating under the guise of spiritual services, with more than 28,000 victims.
According to the police’s initial assessment, the suspects exploited people’s belief in spiritual practices to gradually manipulate them psychologically, persuading them to transfer money for rituals, purchase feng shui items or pay for online ceremonies purportedly intended to ward off misfortune, thereby fraudulently appropriating their assets.
One victim said that after watching fortune-telling livestreams on social media, her personal information was exploited by the scammers. She gradually came to trust them and repeatedly transferred money at their request. At first, she sent only 1–2 million VND (38.4 - 76.6 USD) at a time, but the amounts subsequently rose rapidly to tens of millions of dong before she realised that she had been deceived.
Experts say this type of scam is becoming increasingly common. Rather than taking control of bank accounts or stealing login credentials, criminals focus on psychological manipulation, exploiting victims’ anxiety or greed and inducing them to carry out transactions voluntarily. As a result, risks may persist even when banks employ safeguards such as one-time passwords (OTPs) and biometric authentication.
This is also why payment security systems are shifting from a mindset of post-incident prevention to detecting and issuing warnings immediately before money leaves an account. Alongside the need to identify potentially risky transactions at an early stage, cleaning up the account system has also become an important part of this protective framework.
The State Bank of Viet Nam has sought feedback on a draft decree amending and supplementing a number of provisions of Decree No.52/2024/ND-CP on non-cash payments. The draft adds a provision allowing accounts with no transactions for three years or more, calculated from the account holder’s most recent transaction, to be closed unless otherwise agreed between the bank and the customer. According to the drafting agency, the proposed three-year threshold was developed with reference to practices in several advanced countries.
Many banks have already proactively introduced policies to close or change the status of accounts that have remained inactive for periods ranging from six months to two years, depending on their respective regulations. Banks say that even when no longer in use, such accounts continue to consume resources for technology infrastructure, data storage, security and risk management. Cleaning up account data therefore not only helps reduce operating costs but also provides a foundation for more effective and transparent account management.
In addition to clearing out inactive accounts, the banking sector is stepping up efforts to standardise data and verify customer identities. According to State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha, by the end of June, nearly 163 million individual customer records and more than 2.6 million organisational customer records across the banking sector had undergone biometric information verification using chip-based citizen identity cards or the VNeID application.
Creating a “pause point” before transactions
One of the key preventive tools being deployed by the SBV is the Information System for Management, Supervision and Fraud Risk Prevention in payment activities (SIMO).
By the end of June, the SIMO247 service for checking the status of payment accounts and e-wallets suspected of involvement in fraudulent activities had been made available to customers of 12 credit institutions and three payment intermediary service providers.
The system has issued warnings to customers on around 4.6 million occasions. After receiving the warnings, customers chose to suspend or cancel transactions on more than 1.5 million occasions, thereby preventing transactions worth a total of over 5.2 trillion VND (199.3 million USD). These figures demonstrate the value of creating a “pause point” before money is transferred.
At the commercial bank level, many institutions are also introducing warning tools directly into their transaction applications. SHB has launched a feature that warns customers when a recipient’s account shows signs of suspected fraud or scams across its electronic transaction channels.
When customers enter recipient details, the system automatically checks and cross-references the information against warning lists provided by the Ministry of Public Security, state agencies and relevant organisations. If suspicious signs are detected, a warning immediately appears on the screen.
Notably, the system does not automatically block the transaction. Instead, it provides additional information for customers to consider before proceeding. This approach preserves users’ right to make their own decisions while adding another layer of protection in potentially high-risk situations.
Another new layer of protection being introduced by the State Bank of Vietnam involves services allowing customers to set transaction limits and waiting periods. Banks and foreign bank branches will be required to develop plans for implementing these services before March 1, 2027. If customers do not register their own preferences, a default limit of 400 million VND (15.334 USD) and a minimum waiting period of 24 hours will apply.
However, according to the SBV, this does not mean that every transaction exceeding 400 million VND will be subject to a 24-hour waiting period. The waiting period applies only to transfers to beneficiary accounts that, during the preceding 12 months, have never received a transfer equal to or exceeding the customer’s registered limit. Customers may still proactively adjust their limits or choose not to use the service.
“The essence of this mechanism is to create a safe pause in situations where victims may be under pressure to transfer money immediately. That interval may give users enough time to verify the information, consult family members or contact their bank if they detect anything unusual,” said Pham Anh Tuan, Director General of the Payment Department.
Nguyen Quang Huy, an expert from the Faculty of Finance and Banking at Nguyen Trai University, said the policy would provide an additional layer of protection for transactions showing signs of high risk. However, for the policy to be effective, banks need to step up the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to analyse transaction behaviour in real time, thereby detecting unusual patterns before funds are transferred.
At the same time, banks need to make coordinated investments in technical infrastructure to ensure that the introduction of the “waiting period” does not disrupt ordinary transactions.
