“Exchanging Tet lucky money” and “exchanging new money” have become popular search keywords in recent days, however, people should be careful because this type of service often comes with many risks.
“Hot” currency exchange service
With less than a month to go until the Lunar New Year 2025, at this time, people’s demand for new money to give lucky money, go to temples, pagodas, etc. is increasing day by day. Just type the keyword “exchange Tet lucky money” on social networks and hundreds of posts and groups will appear with invitations and commitments of “real money”, “new money”, “cheapest price on the market”… Many account owners even accept “wholesale” of small change and new money for those in need or recruit collaborators to post articles.
In addition to the service of exchanging new money and small change, “money traders” on the Internet also sell lucky money, unique money, rare money, and foreign currencies from many countries. These types of money are mainly transferred directly from abroad, with the selling price often many times higher than the actual face value depending on the uniqueness and strangeness of the money.
According to records, on social networking groups, a series of groups exchanging small change and new money are operating actively with a large number of members. Not only are articles introducing money exchange services continuously posted, but related comments are also equally bustling.
In addition to extremely attractive offers such as low exchange fees, commitment to real money, original series of money, the subjects are also willing to deliver to the door, the money changer is required to check before receiving the goods.
To compete, the service fee for currency exchange also fluctuates flexibly depending on the time. Accordingly, for new currencies with high denominations such as 100,000 VND, 200,000 VND, the exchange fee is from 3 – 6%. For small currencies such as 1,000 VND, 2,000 VND, the fee is higher, from 10 – 14%. The larger the amount of exchange, the more “reasonable” the service fee is discounted.
Ms. Bui Lan Anh (Dong Da District, Hanoi) shared that since the end of the 11th lunar month, when she went to 2 banks to exchange her savings book, she asked the staff to exchange “a few pieces” of new money in denominations of 5,000 VND, 10,000 VND, 20,000 VND to attend the festival and give lucky money to her children in her hometown, but all of them shook their heads. They explained that for nearly 10 years, the State Bank has not issued money with denominations under 50,000 VND on the occasion of Lunar New Year.
Because she could not exchange money for her needs, Ms. Lan Anh sought out money exchange groups online. Ms. Lan Anh checked the price through a Facebook account that accepts new money exchange in Hanoi. The 5,000 VND, 10,000 VND, 20,000 VND denominations usually have an exchange fee of 7 – 10%. If she exchanges a lot or a large denomination, the exchange fee is about 5%. The closer it is to Tet, the higher the fee.
“That is for new money, original serial number, but for used money that is no longer original serial number, the fee for small denominations is about 5 – 7% depending on the type,” said Ms. Lan Anh.
Be careful of “falling into the trap”
The Information Security Department (Ministry of Information and Communications) warns that advertisements for new currency exchange services on social networking sites pose many risks to those who need to exchange money. In fact, there have been many victims who have made transactions to exchange new currency but when they received the exchanged money, it was not as promised, or even received counterfeit money.
There have been many cases where people have transferred money but the social media account owner has blocked contact and disappeared, “skipping” the customer’s deposit. Usually, those who “fall into the trap” of scams and have counterfeit money exchanged consider it “unlucky” and do not report it to the authorities for fear of being held accountable.
The Information Security Department notes that the acts of collecting and exchanging new money or small change from other individuals and organizations to enjoy the difference and exchanging money online without permission are all violations of the law and must be prevented and strictly handled.
Therefore, people need to be vigilant against strangers and absolutely do not exchange money via social networks to avoid becoming “prey” and aiding fraudulent acts.
“You should only use currency exchange services from banks and organizations with legal operating licenses,” the leader of the Information Security Department noted.
According to lawyer Bui Quang Thu, Hanoi Bar Association, the current currency exchange is carried out in accordance with Circular 25/2013/TT-NHNN (Regulations on the collection and exchange of money not meeting circulation standards) of the State Bank.
According to this Circular, only organizations licensed by the State are allowed to conduct currency exchange activities, including: State Bank, State Bank branches, State Bank transaction offices, credit institutions, foreign bank branches, and State Treasury.
Attorney Thu emphasized that, apart from these units, all money exchange activities of other individuals and organizations are illegal. Any act of exchanging new money or small change to enjoy the % difference or exchanging money for profit is illegal and can be punished.
Exchanging small change online is very risky. Many people can take advantage of people’s needs to exchange short money, use illegal money, money of unknown origin or even counterfeit money.
In addition, the money changers are just acquaintances online, and do not even have a clear organization or headquarters. When exchanging counterfeit money, people also face risks when having to prove the origin of the money…
Other legal experts also recommend that people need to be vigilant and careful to avoid losses when exchanging money online. The safest way to exchange small change is to go to the bank.
Therefore, to avoid falling into the trap of scammers and to protect their legitimate rights, people during Tet should go to banks to exchange money when needed.
Exchanging money in violation of the law will be fined up to 40 million VND according to Decree 88/2019/ND-CP. Organizations that exchange money in violation of the law will be fined twice as much, from 40 to 80 million VND.
Source: cafebiz.vn
Source: Vietnam Insider