Potential risks from buying, selling and leasing bank accounts

Recently, the trend of buying, selling, renting, and lending bank accounts has been increasing, becoming a burning issue in society. Just because of greed for immediate profits, many people have unintentionally assisted criminals without fully anticipating the unpredictable legal consequences and personal risks.

Buying and selling bank accounts - big consequences

Buying and selling bank accounts is not simply a harmless civil transaction, but in fact it is an important link in many high-tech crimes such as fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing or illegal drug trafficking.

In my opinion, this situation poses many risks to society. When a bank account is transferred to a bad person, it is very likely that it will be used for illegal transactions. More importantly, the account seller can be dragged into legal trouble if their account is involved in fraud or money laundering cases.

In fact, there have been many cases where, after selling an account, the account owner was summoned by the police for investigation because their account was used to appropriate other people's property. At this time, proving one's innocence is not easy, not to mention the risk of being prosecuted.

Selling bank accounts can be punished with up to 20 years in prison

According to the law, people who buy, sell, or lease bank accounts may face severe penalties:

Administrative penalties: According to Decree 88/2019/ND-CP, violators can be fined from 40 to 50 million VND.

Criminal prosecution: If the account is used for illegal activities such as fraud or money laundering, the account seller may be prosecuted under Article 290 of the 2015 Penal Code (crime of providing illegal services on computer networks or telecommunications networks) or Article 324 (crime of money laundering) with a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, depending on the severity.

Civil liability: If any victim suffers damages due to transactions from the sold account, the seller may be required to pay compensation according to the law.

Many people have the simple thought that if they only sell accounts and do not participate in fraud, then it is okay. But in reality, when they use their name to make illegal transactions on an account, they can be considered an accomplice and be held criminally responsible.

What can be done to prevent the buying and selling of bank accounts?

To stop this problem, cooperation from many sides is needed:

Banks need to tighten account opening procedures, monitor unusual transactions and enhance customer identification measures to prevent accounts from being sold or leased.

Authorities need to strengthen investigations and severely punish those who buy and sell bank accounts, and publicize the sentences as a deterrent.

It is necessary to widely propagate so that people understand that selling bank accounts is not a small matter and can destroy their own future.

Banks, police, financial institutions and social media platforms need to have a coordination mechanism to detect and prevent this behavior early.

Buying and selling bank accounts is not only illegal but also puts the seller at risk of criminal prosecution. Everyone needs to be vigilant, and never trade their freedom and honor for a small amount of money.