Vietnam's Central Bank Issues Urgent Alert on Bank Card Chip Skimming

The State Bank of Vietnam (NHNN) has issued an urgent circular directing commercial banks, foreign bank branches, and payment service providers to tighten security around bank cards. The directives require a review of foreign payment services for non‑resident and resident foreigners, enhanced communication to customers about chip‑removal fraud, research into preventing chip detachment from card blanks, stricter monitoring of payment‑accepting merchants, and verification that card data matches the cardholder during transactions.

The warning follows recent incidents in which criminals have removed chips from legitimate cards and installed them on counterfeit card blanks, then used the fake cards to steal funds. NHNN’s measures aim to curb the practice and protect cardholders across Vietnam.