The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has recently issued warnings to the public regarding the use of online banking services, to avoid the risk of losing money from their accounts.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam, given the complex developments in cybercrime, in addition to banks implementing information security solutions (such as biometric authentication for money transfers as per Decision 2345), people also need to raise awareness about cybersecurity and strictly adhere to guidelines on using electronic banking services safely.

Therefore, people need to comply with the regulations and guidelines of banks providing online transaction services and register to receive notifications of changes in transaction balances.

For online transaction services, passwords should be strong and difficult to guess, ensuring security rules are followed, passwords should be changed regularly, and password saving features for automatic login should not be used.

Do not provide your online banking username, password, or verification code (OTP code) via phone, email, social media, website, etc., to anyone, including bank employees.

In case of a compromised or suspected compromise of your Username/Password , customers should promptly notify the bank for timely assistance. If your card is lost, you should block it on the online banking application or notify the bank as soon as possible to avoid the risk of losing funds from your card.

Avoid using public computers and public Wi-Fi networks when accessing online banking systems.

Instead of selecting a pre-existing link, type the bank's website address directly into the online banking app; only log in on the bank's official website.

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Avoid using public Wi-Fi when transferring money. Photo: Hoang Ha.

Only install apps from official stores like Google Play and the App Store. When installing apps on your device, check the app developer information and carefully review the app's permissions. Regularly update your device's operating system to receive the latest security patches from the manufacturer.

Make online purchases and payments only on reputable, licensed websites with clear contact information.

Actively protect and secure your personal information and account details.

Regularly monitor and update yourself on security warnings regarding online payments from banks providing the service and from the mass media.

Taking advantage of the difficulties some people face during the biometric registration process, scammers have emerged impersonating bank employees to assist with biometric setup, with the aim of stealing user information to fraudulently obtain money from accounts.

The bank advises customers to absolutely not provide OTPs, digital banking passwords, etc., to anyone, including bank employees; to be extremely vigilant and not click on strange links sent via chat, SMS, or email to your phone to avoid the risk of fraud and information theft.

The banks also affirmed that they do not contact customers directly to guide them in collecting biometric data, nor do they request customers to provide personal information through channels such as phone calls, SMS messages, emails, or chat applications (Zalo, Viber, Facebook Messenger, etc.).

What should customers do if they don't have a chip-embedded citizen ID card or are using a phone that doesn't support NFC?

For customers who do not yet have a chip-based Citizen Identification Card (but have a valid Citizen Identification Card or National Identity Card as prescribed by law), or foreign customers, or customers using phones that do not support NFC, to conduct online transactions over 10 million VND, customers only need to register their biometric information once at the bank counter. After that, customers can conduct transactions through the Mobile Banking/Internet Banking application without having to go to the counter.

In the near future, when the Ministry of Public Security provides electronic identification and authentication services, banks will integrate their Mobile Banking/Internet Banking applications with the electronic identification and authentication system to allow customers to register biometric information through electronic identification accounts issued by the Ministry of Public Security.

In 2023, according to statistics from the Information Security Warning Portal (Ministry of Information and Communications), nearly 16,000 reports from Vietnamese Internet users concerned online fraud, causing estimated losses of 390,000 billion VND, equivalent to 3.6% of GDP. Of these, 91% of the warnings related to impersonation and fraud in the banking and finance sector, an increase of 64.78% compared to 2022.