That situation leads to workers losing their rights, even having their one-time social insurance money appropriated. Reporter of Lao Dong Newspaper interviewed Lawyer Hoang Van Ha - Director of ARC Hanoi Law Firm - Hanoi Bar Association on this issue.
Direct legal responsibility of Vietnam Social Insurance
Dear Lawyer, recently, the situation of buying, selling, and mortgaging social insurance books has been taking place publicly on social networks and in many localities. In your opinion, why is the demand for selling social insurance books increasing so much?
- The current situation of buying, selling and mortgaging social insurance books has shifted from small-scale transactions to popular and systematic. The main reasons come from economic difficulties, job losses, and prolonged income reductions, forcing workers to sell or mortgage their books to get quick cash.
In addition, many workers do not understand the long-term value of social insurance books, do not have their retirement, death, and illness benefits, so they are easily taken advantage of by collection groups. In particular, the Social Insurance Law 2024 limits many conditions for receiving one-time social insurance benefits, leading to a sharp increase in the demand for selling books to withdraw money quickly.
According to the new law, what is the responsibility of Vietnam Social Security agencies in preventing, detecting and handling the situation of buying and selling social insurance books?
- The 2024 Social Insurance Law clearly stipulates the responsibilities of social insurance agencies. According to Article 16, the Social Insurance agency has the function of organizing the implementation of social insurance policies, managing funds, managing data, controlling records and preventing and detecting violations.
Article 30 of the Law also requires social insurance to connect and compare data with the National Population Database to authenticate the beneficiary's identity. Article 9 of the Social Insurance Law 2024 strictly prohibits "buying, selling, mortgaging, mortgaging, and depositing in social insurance books".
Therefore, the detection and handling of the act of collecting books is the direct legal responsibility of Vietnam Social Insurance.
In your opinion, where are the shortcomings or weaknesses of the social insurance measures implemented?
- Vietnam Social Security has implemented many measures such as comparing data with population databases, applying electronic identification, and tightening records inspection. However, the biggest weakness is the authorization verification stage. The law allows authorization to receive social insurance benefits under Article 10, but the certification requirement and a maximum period of 12 months are not strong enough to combat forgery or enforcement.
Therefore, the subjects collecting the book can still legalize the documents to withdraw one-time social insurance on behalf of the employee. The lack of synchronous biometric authentication is also a limitation that makes it difficult for social insurance to completely prevent.
Is the one-time social insurance authorization process a loophole that book collection groups take advantage of and needs to be revised, sir?
- That's right. According to Article 10 of the Social Insurance Law 2024, beneficiaries are allowed to authorize others to receive benefits and pensions but must be certified to be valid. However, the collection groups often force employees to sign the authorization letter with the CMND/CCCD and social insurance book, then withdraw the social insurance money at one time and then flee.
The problem lies in the fact that the Law does not require transactions to be authenticated by biometric or strong electronic identification. Therefore, it is necessary to amend in the direction of: Compulsory multi-layer authentication with authorization documents; requiring employees to be present directly or authenticate via VNeID when withdrawing social insurance at one time.
When an employee's one-time social insurance money is appropriated, what is the responsibility of the social insurance agency?
- According to Article 75 of the Social Insurance Law 2024, the social insurance agency has the right and responsibility to temporarily suspend payment when detecting signs of unusual records or having grounds to determine that the benefits are not in accordance with regulations. Social Insurance must verify and coordinate with the police agency according to the provisions of the Penal Code, especially Article 174 on the crime of fraud and appropriation of property.
If there is a basis to determine that the money was withdrawn by fraudulent tricks, the Social Insurance agency must support the restoration of the payment process for the victim and request the investigation agency to handle it according to the law.
The law has banned it, but the sale of books still takes place openly. Is this a problem of the law or of the implementation stage, in your opinion?
- This is a problem at both stages. The law has clearly prohibited in Article 9, but there are no direct or specific sanctions for "the act of collecting social insurance books". When handling, the authorities are forced to apply crimes of fraud, fraud or administrative acts according to Decree 12/2022/ND-CP, making it difficult to handle thoroughly. At the same time, book collection advertising takes place on social networks, easily transforming into disguised civil transactions that specialized inspectors have difficulty accessing.
Vietnam Social Security needs to immediately deploy mandatory authentication using VNeID electronic identification
According to the lawyer, is the regulation on administrative sanctions or criminal prosecution for this behavior strong enough?
- The current coach is not strong enough. The act of collecting and trading social insurance books does not have separate laws to punish. The handling must be based on social insurance fraud or the crime of fraud to appropriate property - which requires proving the will to appropriate from the beginning, which the investigation agency finds difficult to prove because the transaction often takes the form of "deposit - sale of documents". This is the reason why the number of cases handled is very small compared to reality.
How does the act of buying and selling social insurance books affect the rights of employees and the social insurance system?
- This is an act that causes direct and heavy damage. Employees may lose the right to receive one-time social insurance, receive pensions, lose the entire payment process and even lose personal data. For the social insurance system, this is a risk of causing fund losses, data distortation, fraudulent records, seriously affecting the sustainability of social security policies and reducing people's trust.
To end this situation, in your opinion, which is the core group of solutions?
- core solutions include: Tightening authorization; applying mandatory biometric authentication and VNeID electronic identification in all procedures for receiving one-time social insurance; developing separate sanctions for the act of collecting, trading social insurance books; and increasing legal dissemination to employees.
In the Social Insurance Law 2024, a major step forward is the regulation in Article 25 on unifying the management of electronic social insurance data and connecting with the National Database, helping to limit the abuse of documents. However, the Law has not yet specifically regulated sanctions for handling the act of collecting books - this is a point that needs to continue to be improved.
Which country can Vietnam learn from the model? And if you make the most urgent recommendation for Vietnam Social Insurance at present, what will you propose?
- Vietnam can learn from the model of Korea, Japan and Europe, where all social security transactions must be authenticated through electronic identification and biometrics, minimizing fraud.
My most urgent recommendation is that Vietnam Social Security immediately implement mandatory authentication using VNeID electronic identification and biometrics for all one-time social insurance withdrawal authorization documents, ensuring absolute safety for employees.
Previously, Lao Dong Newspaper published an article: Buying and selling social insurance books threatens the safety of workers, reflecting the recent situation, on Tiktok, Facebook, Zalo, livestreams... many accounts have appeared with phone numbers to receive social insurance books or complete procedures related to social insurance agencies. The subjects often use the logo and image of the social insurance agency to create trust, along with invitations for "free consultation", "support for processing documents" for employees who lack legal knowledge or are afraid to contact the authorities.
The collection of fees for making documents, even the purchase and sale of books, is recurring publicly and showing signs of increasing.
