Cash, SIM cards and the small frauds that repeat all year round in Da Nang — currency exchange, ATM fees, deposit passports and snatch theft. None of it is dramatic; all of it is predictable.
4 do · 5 never do
Not the marked-up flat rate landlords often quote.
The state tariff is tiered and published, so the arithmetic is checkable. Ask for the meter reading and the EVN bill each month and pay against it rather than against a number quoted in conversation.
Source Official — Vietnamese decree
Rooms, appliances, menus, motorbikes — film it first.
Two minutes of camera work settles nearly every deposit and fare dispute that follows: meter readings, existing scratches, the menu with its printed prices. Timestamped photos end arguments that words do not.
Source Community-reported
Know which bank charges zero fees, and always be charged in dong.
Use machines attached to a branch, refuse the “charge me in my own currency” option, and check which of your cards refunds fees. Several Vietnamese banks charge nothing on foreign cards; standalone street machines charge the most.
Source Community-reported
Real-name registration with your passport is mandatory.
Viettel, Vinaphone and Mobifone shops register the SIM to you in about ten minutes with your passport. A properly registered number is what banking OTPs, ride apps and delivery all depend on.
Source Official — Vietnamese decree
A photocopy or a cash deposit is accepted instead.
No hotel, bike shop or landlord needs to hold the original. A held passport is leverage in a dispute you have not had yet — and replacing one from Da Nang means a trip to your consulate in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City.
Source Official — embassy advisory
It's now a sanctioned offence, and ATMs beat the rate anyway.
Unlicensed exchange has been pulled firmly into enforcement, and the rate almost never justifies the risk. Use a bank or a licensed exchange counter, and count the notes at the window.
Source Official — Vietnamese decree
Cash over US$5,000, or VND15 million, must be declared.
The thresholds apply both entering and leaving, and the declaration form takes a minute at the counter. Undeclared cash above them is seizable, and unfamiliarity is not treated as a defence.
Source Official — Vietnamese decree
Snatch thefts are done from a moving motorbike.
Pay from a small wallet and keep the rest elsewhere. Walk with your bag on the wall side and your phone in the hand away from the road — the overwhelming majority of thefts reported by foreigners here are drive-by grabs.
Source Community-reported
If the vendor doesn't check your passport, it can be disabled within 48 hours.
An unregistered SIM is registered to someone else, and the carriers cut them in sweeps. It will stop working on the day you need a bank OTP or a ride at the airport.
Source Official — Vietnamese decree
At a bank or a licensed exchange counter, and count the notes at the window. Changing money at gold shops or with individuals is now a sanctioned offence, and airport and hotel desks give poor rates; ATMs usually beat all of them.
Use machines attached to a bank branch rather than standalone street machines, and always choose to be charged in Vietnamese dong, not your home currency. Several Vietnamese banks charge nothing on foreign cards — check which of your cards refunds fees.
Yes. Buy it at an official Viettel, Vinaphone or Mobifone counter with your passport — real-name registration is mandatory and takes about ten minutes. An unregistered SIM is cut in carrier sweeps, often within 48 hours, on the day you need a bank OTP.
No hotel, bike shop or landlord needs the original — a photocopy or a cash deposit is standard. A held passport is leverage in a dispute you have not had yet, and replacing one means a trip to your consulate in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City.
Fare-padding and commission steering in taxis, short-changing at currency exchange, unregistered SIM sales, and drive-by phone and bag snatches from a moving motorbike. All of them are predictable and avoidable with a little routine.
Amounts over US$5,000, or VND15 million, must be declared on arrival and on departure. The declaration form takes a minute at the counter; undeclared cash above the threshold is seizable.