Delete 'ghost' accounts, prevent fraud

The State Bank is working with relevant agencies to close 'dormant' accounts (not biometrically authenticated) and delete 'ghost' accounts to prevent fraud.

Illustration using AI technology - Made by: TUAN ANH

More than 200 million personal accounts have been opened at banks in the past, but when the State Bank required biometric authentication, only more than 113 million personal accounts were verified.

We will guide you to close "hibernating" accounts, accounts that have not moved for a long time. The purpose is to prevent and limit the situation of "hibernating" accounts waiting for the right time and one day suddenly "reviving" to participate in fraud and cheating.

Mr. Pham Anh Tuan (Director of Payment Department, State Bank)

Only 113 million accounts have been cleaned

More than 86 million remaining bank accounts without biometric authentication will be disabled from September 2025, in case one day these accounts suddenly "resurrect" to participate in fraud and scams.

The State Bank said that for personal accounts, to date, only 113 million accounts have been biometrically verified via chip-embedded citizen identification cards. For corporate accounts, 711,000 accounts have been verified and the information of the legal representative has been verified.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre, Mr. Doan Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Technology (State Bank), said that up to now, more than 200 million bank accounts have been opened nationwide, but after nearly a year of the State Bank requiring authentication to clean up data, the authentication rate has only reached 67%.

The remaining 86 million personal accounts have yet to be accurately identified. It is clear that many of these accounts are problematic and were opened for fraud.

"Comparing biometric information through chip-embedded citizen identification cards is to ensure that the account is genuine and prevent fraud. So real people are not afraid of real events, only scammers and fraudsters are afraid of being exposed," said Mr. Doan Thanh Hai.

According to Mr. Hai, verifying information with a chip-embedded citizen ID card is very simple. Account holders only need to download the digital banking application on their phones to verify, which takes 1-2 minutes, without having to go to the bank. In case of any difficulties during the operation, account holders can go to a bank branch or transaction office for support.

Will delete "ghost" accounts

Also according to Mr. Doan Thanh Hai, from January 1, 2025, if biometric information is not authenticated and compared with the National Population Database, individual customers will not be able to make online transactions.

And from July 1, businesses can only transact at the counter if the legal representative of the business does not authenticate biometric information.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the Payment Department (State Bank), said that up to this point, accounts that have not been verified for biometric information may be dead accounts or "hibernating" accounts.

Among the more than 86 million unverified accounts, there are certainly fraudulent and fraudulent accounts that have been opened in the past that cannot be legalized at this time.

Regarding the accounts of organizations, Mr. Tuan informed that up to now, about 711,000 accounts, accounting for 55% of the organization's bank accounts, have been verified with biometric information of the legal representative.

He recommended that the legal representative of the enterprise needs to authenticate biometric information with the National Population Database before July 1 so that the enterprise can conduct online transactions because there are only three weeks left.

However, like personal accounts, there will certainly be many "ghost" business accounts, accounts opened for the purpose of fraud and cheating, so they will be "stuck" at the stage of identifying real identities. It is expected that on September 1, banks will apply the deletion of "dormant" accounts.

Mr. Tuan added that closing "hibernating" accounts helps make banking industry data increasingly cleaner.

At the same time, deleting "ghost" accounts also contributes to bringing trust and peace of mind to customers when using services in the digital environment in the context of increasing high-tech crimes with unpredictable tricks.

Many sophisticated scams have been discovered recently - Photo: QUANG DINH

Why are there inactive accounts?

Ms. Nguyen Phuong Huyen, director of Sacombank's personal customer division, said there are many reasons why customers open bank accounts but do not make transactions.

Maybe the customer opened an account because they had a need to make transactions in the past, but now they no longer have a need, so they don't care about biometrics to continue using it.

In addition, some customers, especially older customers, may have difficulty using online banking services and are unfamiliar with technology, resulting in them not making online transactions but only transacting directly at the counter.

"We fully support the State Bank's regulation requiring banks to delete accounts that do not implement biometrics. This helps minimize risks related to fraud and illegal activities, not only to ensure the safety and security of the banking system, but also to improve efficiency in account management.

In this way, banks can ensure that all accounts are managed securely and only real owners have access and transactions," said Ms. Nguyen Phuong Huyen.

Meanwhile, ACB said that about 3 million customers have been biometrically authenticated. ACB has also just issued a notice on biometric registration and additional documents for opening payment accounts for corporate customers.

Specifically, to comply with Circular 17/2024 of the State Bank, to avoid transaction interruptions, corporate customers need to complete biometric registration before July 1 and supplement payment account opening documents before January 1, 2026.

ACB also noted that institutional customers who are transacting at ACB but have not updated their payment account opening records before October 1, 2024 must supplement them with the bank before January 1, 2026 to avoid interruption of all transactions.

Banking transactions over 10 million VND will require biometric authentication - Photo: THANH HIEP

Criminal tricks

Recently, many banks have simultaneously warned customers about the scams of technology criminals.

Credit card issuance notice

Ms. L.Th.H. (Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi ) said that for the past month she has been continuously receiving calls from the number 024 89891117. When she clicked to answer, the other end of the line was an automated switchboard claiming to be from a bank, informing her that she was eligible to open a credit card.

"The switchboard automatically sends information: Congratulations, you are eligible to issue a credit card at the bank. If you have any needs, press 1 or press 0 to receive support from a teller."

I have no need to open another credit card and know this is a scam call, because the bank does not have an automated switchboard that constantly contacts customers like that," said Ms. L.Th.H.

Vietcombank also said that there has been an increase in the appearance and use of fraudulent forms impersonating Vietcombank employees/call centers to contact and invite customers to issue credit cards.

The trick of the scammers is to pretend to be bank employees and then call, send SMS, Zalo messages... to convince customers to open a debit card or credit card.

Request for information

The second way is that the scammer asks the customer to provide information such as the number printed on the card, card image...

They then link the customer's card to their e-wallet, thereby stealing money from the customer's card. "To avoid criminals stealing money, customers should absolutely not provide confidential information such as card information, application passwords, and OTP codes to anyone," Vietcombank recommends to customers.

In addition to the above tricks, BIDV said that one of the common fraud methods that criminals are currently applying is recruiting online collaborators to do online tasks to receive "commissions".

Although this form of fraud is not new and has been warned by many authorities, there are still people who "fall into the trap". BIDV recommends that customers absolutely do not transfer money, deposit money at the request of strangers or provide bank account information or OTP codes.

Biometric authentication will help reduce risks when making online payments via banks - Photo: TRI DUC

Strengthening solutions to prevent technology crimes

The State Bank and the Ministry of Public Security are amending relevant legal regulations to further tighten fraud prevention in the banking and financial sectors.

Face Renter Captive

According to Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the Payment Department, closing "ghost" and fraudulent accounts does not guarantee 100% crime prevention because authorities have begun to detect criminal organizations that keep people renting out their faces to commit fraud.

Every time you transfer money, show your face for verification, the rest is raised and taken care of carefully.

Explaining further to Tuoi Tre, Mr. Doan Thanh Hai said that the criminal kept the face-renting person outside Vietnam's borders, so it was not easy to detect and handle thoroughly. If discovered, the criminal might have already committed the fraud.

To help limit the situation of account rental, Mr. Tuan said the Ministry of Public Security is proposing more severe criminal penalties for those who assist in fraud and scams.

On the other hand, in the draft decree replacing Decree 88 on administrative sanctions in the banking and monetary sector, the Payment Department proposed to increase the fine by 4-5 times compared to the current level, up to a maximum of 200 million VND, for the act of leasing or borrowing accounts.

Applying VNeID to banking transactions

In addition to the above solutions, the State Bank will soon require banks to use technology to ensure that customer information is correctly verified when transacting at the counter. Currently, when customers transact at the counter, bank staff look at the customer's face and compare it with the citizen identification card to verify that it is correct.

However, Mr. Tuan said that this means "the bank is forcing counter staff to work instead of police officers" because that is the job of the police. In the new circular, the State Bank will stipulate that banks must use technological equipment to verify data to ensure correctness, not by the subjectivity of individual tellers.

"After the police discovered the scammers, the State Bank disciplined the service providers involved. In the near future, the State Bank will regulate the suspension of online service provision if the service provider does not meet international standards. The fight against cybercrime is a never-ending battle, so service providers need to pay attention," said Mr. Tuan.

The State Bank is also actively coordinating with the Ministry of Public Security to effectively implement the Government's Project 06, implementing the Project on developing applications of population data, identification and electronic authentication to serve national digital transformation in the period 2022 - 2025, with a vision to 2030.

On the other hand, Mr. Tuan said that the State Bank encourages units to apply VNeID to banking transactions, especially in biometric comparison and collection.

When applying VNeID to compare biometric information with the National Population Database, it will completely resolve the existing weaknesses in using NFC, the user experience of reading chip-embedded citizen identification cards via mobile phones.

However, biometric authentication is not the only solution to prevent crime in the banking and finance sector.

In addition to the measures and regulations being revised by the State Bank, the Ministry of Public Security is also revising relevant legal regulations to further tighten fraud prevention in this field.

Prevent AI from bypassing biometric authentication systems

Regarding the 1,000 billion VND gambling ring, the subjects used AI to create fake biometric videos to bypass the bank's biometric authentication system, which was recently dismantled by Thai Binh Provincial Police.

This is the first time this method has been recorded in Vietnam, showing the sophistication and complexity of money laundering activities in the digital age.

According to Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, increasing technology crimes require organizations to be aware of investing in technology to improve security and protect customers.

While we use AI to develop products, criminals also use AI for criminal activities. In the above case, there is a situation where some applications of service providers do not meet the highest security, international certificates on electronic identification - eKYC.

PINK LIGHT - LE THANH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/xoa-tai-khoan-ma-ngan-lua-dao-20250605093416148.htm