People should proactively exchange money at banks or authorized units. Photo: Do Tam
Clearly, this is prohibited behavior.
Simply typing keywords like "money exchange service" or "exchange new banknotes" on social media platforms like Google, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, etc., can easily yield millions of results. With advertisements promising "exchange all denominations, in unlimited quantities," those needing to exchange money feel like they've fallen into a maze.
Posing as someone needing to exchange money, a reporter from HanoiMoi Newspaper contacted a page on Instagram and learned that the exchange fee increases with smaller denominations. For example, for 10,000 VND notes, the fee is around 5-7%, depending on the location. For other denominations, the fee ranges from 3-10%, and in some cases even 12-15%, explained by the service provider as "scarce." For instance, for 500 VND, 1,000 VND, and 2,000 VND notes, the exchange fee is 15%, meaning that for 1,000,000 VND, customers have to pay an additional 150,000 VND to get new notes. In reality, this is a violation of the law.
According to Circular No. 25/2013/TT-NHNN dated December 2, 2013, issued by the State Bank of Vietnam, which regulates the collection and exchange of banknotes that do not meet circulation standards, the collection and exchange of banknotes is carried out by the State Bank of Vietnam, its branches, the State Bank of Vietnam's Transaction Department, credit institutions, branches of foreign banks, and the State Treasury. This only applies to banknotes that do not meet circulation standards, are torn, or damaged. Individuals who arbitrarily exchange banknotes to collect fees or profit from the difference are violating the law.
According to Clause 5, Point a, Article 30 of Government Decree No. 88/2019/ND-CP dated November 14, 2019, on administrative penalties in the monetary and banking sector, individuals engaging in illegal currency exchange or charging fees improperly in the monetary and banking sector may be subject to administrative penalties ranging from 20 to 40 million VND. For organizations committing the same violation, the penalty stipulated in Clause 3, Point b is double that of individuals. While this is a sufficiently strong deterrent, in reality, spontaneous currency exchange activities remain widespread, especially online.
Adds many more risks
The story doesn't end with the fees, as many people are willing to pay for new stacks of banknotes for the Lunar New Year celebrations. The problem is that, taking advantage of the increased demand, many individuals have committed fraud by requiring people to transfer a deposit fee, then disappearing, and their phone numbers are blocked.
Even if not outright fraud, many scammers send counterfeit money, underpay, or substandard currency, disrupting the money market. More dangerously, scammers send or insert malware to buyers to steal data when buyers unknowingly open malicious links. As a result, the buyer's entire account is stolen, and all the money in the account disappears...
According to the State Bank of Vietnam's leadership, in recent years, the State Bank has advocated limiting the printing of new small-denomination banknotes to save costs, while encouraging people to use large-denomination banknotes or cashless gift-giving, making the supply of new small-denomination banknotes on the market even scarcer. Individuals providing money exchange services have taken advantage of this to arbitrarily set prices for their services.
The State Bank of Vietnam leaders also added that, due to seasonal factors, production, business, trade, services, and consumer spending typically increase significantly during the end of the year and the Lunar New Year. Therefore, to best meet the payment needs and the demand for cash in the circulation of goods and money, the State Bank of Vietnam has directed and guided efforts to strengthen security and safety in payment and money transfer transactions.
Financial and banking experts recommend that instead of using unofficial online transaction channels, people should proactively exchange money at banks or authorized institutions. In addition, they can prepare lucky money early or use common denominations, and utilize diverse and flexible lucky money services on the digital platform to avoid cash shortages during the Tet holiday. Currently, many applications such as MoMo, ZaloPay, ViettelPay... and some banks and e-commerce platforms design digital lucky money envelopes that account holders can send to relatives and friends conveniently and attractively. Both the giver and receiver only need to perform a few actions to open the envelope and receive money into their wallet immediately. These transactions take place within a secure, licensed system with no exchange fee differences.
In the context of increasingly sophisticated online scams, every citizen needs to be vigilant in giving lucky money in the right way, avoiding letting the joy from the custom of giving lucky money at the beginning of the year inadvertently turn into legal and financial risks for themselves.
Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/can-trong-voi-dich-vu-doi-tien-chen-ma-doc-731384.html
Comment (0)