Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on May 24 signed an official dispatch, ordering a vigorous nationwide crackdown on smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, and intellectual property violations.

The National Steering Committee against Smuggling, Counterfeit Goods, and Trade Fraud (National Steering Committee 389) on April 10 issued a document calling for stringent enforcement against goods origin fraud.

The Vietnam Trade Office in the Netherlands has warned of online fraud cases, particularly related to petroleum products, amidst the high demand for this category of goods.

Vietnamese firms should use additional caution to avoid increasingly sophisticated scams in international trade, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) Hoang Minh Chien said.

Trade Counselor in Mexico and Panama Luu Van Khang has advised Vietnamese businesses to carefully study their partners, following a range of trade frauds in Latin America in which firms from the Southeast Asian nation were victimised.

Through the case of the 76 containers of cashew nuts falling into problems in Italy last year and five containers of peppercorns, cashews, cinnamon and star anise in the UAE this year, it can be seen that the delivery of documents to an unauthorised person at the buyer's bank is a loophole in the international trade activities.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) recommended on July 25 that Vietnamese companies be cautious and thoroughly negotiate payment clauses when conducting transactions with foreign firms, following a suspected scam involving five batches of Vietnamese farm produce in Dubai.

Following the release of a notice by the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas) warning cashew businesses about potential fraud concerning the export of cashew kernels to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade's (MoIT) Asia-Africa Market Department has confirmed swift action.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang chaired a teleconference in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on June 28 to direct the fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing; boundary demarcation; prevention and control of crimes, drug and human trafficking, smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods.

Customs agencies nationwide detected and handled 543 cases violating customs regulations between December 16, 2022, and January 15, 2023, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.