A SIM card shop on Kim Mã Street, Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo

CEOs of telecom companies operating mobile networks within Việt Nam are to be held personally accountable for their networks' failure to address rampant abuses of spam SIM cards, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC). The networks will also face severe penalties, including having their ability to sign up new customers suspended.

"Chairpersons and CEOs of mobile telecommunications companies must take personal responsibility for spam SIM cards," said the MIC in a recently released open letter to all telecom companies in the country.

The ministry has long demanded stronger efforts on telecom companies' part to ensure users' compliance with national ID regulations. As a result, information on 125 million active users has been verified and reviewed in 2023. However, the ministry said there were and still are active SIM cards, pre-activated using outdated user IDs, allowing people to bypass the required ID registration steps.

The ministry has set a deadline of April 15 for telecom companies to get rid of such cards and to make sure that their customer IDs match with the national ID database. In addition, organisations and individuals must verify their subscriptions and usage of registered numbers as they will be directly held responsible if said numbers are used for illegal activities.

"Account identification and the issue of spam SIM and bank accounts must be taken seriously before we can make significant progress in fighting online scamming," said Trần Quang Hưng, deputy director of the Department of Information Security under the MIC.

Users can report online scams directly to the department by calling their hotlines at 156, 5656 and: thongbaorac.ais.gov.vn. — VNS