Junk SIM cards are still widely sold, despite the risk of being fined 40 million VND
(Dan Tri) - Pre-activated SIMs are still being publicly offered by many accounts on social networks, despite the penalty of up to 40 million VND.
From Circular 08/2026/TT-BKHCN to Decree 174/2026/ND-CP, regulations on mobile subscription management are continuously being improved to tighten registration, authenticate subscriber information, and prevent junk and unauthorized SIMs.
However, Dan Tri's reporter's notes show that the sale of pre-activated SIM cards still happens regularly on many platforms.
Searching for the keywords "junk SIM", "ready-to-use SIM", "pre-activated SIM" on Facebook, a series of posts and buying and selling groups immediately appear.
In some posts, sellers offer attractive offers such as "the more you buy, the better the price", "install and use immediately, no need to re-register", "cheapest price on the market".
Notably, many accounts also sell one-way locked SIMs, introducing that they can still receive OTP codes for a long time and "have not registered any applications".
According to the survey, the price of each SIM ranges from a few tens of thousands of VND to several hundred thousand VND depending on the number and characteristics of each SIM.
Most sellers accept delivery nationwide with post content such as "send text message for delivery", "transfer money and receive SIM card".
Not only is the supply abundant, records in groups show that every day posts still regularly appear looking to buy pre-activated SIMs, SIMs that receive OTP, and SIMs that have not been registered in the application.
Under the articles, many accounts quickly left comments offering offers, showing that the market shows no signs of cooling down.
Faced with the risk of being fined from 200,000 VND to 50 million VND if they intentionally use an unauthorized SIM, many people still openly post to search for sources of junk SIMs. This market generally still operates openly from both the seller and buyer sides.
According to Point b, Clause 7, Article 34 of Decree No. 174/2026/ND-CP, the act of selling, leasing, transferring, or circulating in the market SIM cards that have been attached to telecommunications subscription numbers, pre-entered information, and provided mobile services without being a telecommunications enterprise or organization or individual that has been allocated and issued codes and telecommunications numbers according to regulations will be fined from 30 to 40 million VND.
In particular, Clause 7, Article 34 also stipulates similar fines for two acts including:
- Register subscription information for mobile subscribers when the mobile telecommunications enterprise has not signed a contract authorizing the registration of subscription information.
- Buy, sell, exchange or use multi-function SIMs, devices with the function of pre-activating services for subscriber SIMs without having to break the SIM to pre-enter subscription information, and pre-activate prepaid mobile services for subscriber SIMs.
Simultaneously. The Decree clearly states that users of unauthorized SIM cards will be fined from 200,000 to 50 million VND, depending on the number of violating subscribers.
Specifically, if violating 1 to 10 numbers, telecommunications subscribers will be fined from 200,000 to 500,000 VND for each subscriber number.
The fine will increase to 5 to 10 million VND if the violation is from 11 to 200 subscribers, 10 to 20 million VND for 201 to 500 subscribers and 30 to 50 million VND for 501 subscribers or more.