How to Receive Vietnamese Bank OTPs Abroad

To receive Vietnamese bank OTPs while you live abroad, keep your Viettel, Vinaphone or MobiFone SIM active in a spare iPhone at home in Vietnam, and let Fwrd forward each code text to Telegram or any of its eight destinations (for email, another phone and WhatsApp, it hands the text to your shortcut’s send step). Vietcombank app transfers move to Smart OTP once you turn it on, but card payment OTPs and BIDV’s new-phone codes can still come by SMS. Since June 2026, a SIM moved to another phone needs a new face check, so set it up before you leave.

What you need: your Vietnamese SIM, registered in your name and topped up; a spare iPhone on iOS 26 or later; a place for it in Vietnam with power and Wi-Fi, with someone who can unlock it every two or three days and after a restart; Fwrd; and an app you read abroad.

Does a Vietnamese SIM receive texts abroad?

Only on roaming. BIDV says SMS OTPs abroad need your carrier’s international roaming (BIDV, read November 3, 2026). Whether texts reach a roaming phone, and what that costs, is up to your carrier and plan. A SIM left in a spare iPhone in Vietnam needs no roaming.

Which Vietnamese OTPs still come by SMS?

Codes for card payments, new phones and accounts not yet on Smart OTP can still come by text.

• The State Bank of Vietnam’s Decision 2345 has required, since July 1, 2024, a face check for transfers over 10 million dong, over 20 million in a day, or the first on a new phone (Tạp chí Ngân hàng, read November 3, 2026).
• Vietcombank stopped SMS OTP for all financial transactions in VCB Digibank from March 26, 2026, once you’ve turned on Smart OTP and done at least two transactions with SMS OTP (Vietcombank, read November 3, 2026). Online card payments can use SMS OTP, Smart OTP or email OTP (Vietcombank, read November 3, 2026).
• BIDV says a new phone or reinstalled SmartBanking means turning on Smart OTP again, which needs an SMS code (BIDV, read November 3, 2026).
• Techcombank can send card payment OTPs in its app since December 21, 2025, and sends them by SMS or email if you aren’t signed in (Techcombank, read November 3, 2026).

Why am I not receiving OTP abroad?

Usually because the SIM is abroad without roaming, its balance has run out, or your bank no longer texts that code. MB says to check the signal and that the SIM still works (MB, read November 3, 2026). A SIM in a spare iPhone at home has both.

How do I receive Vietcombank or MB Bank OTP abroad?

When Vietcombank, MB Bank or VietinBank texts a code to your registered number, the SIM in the spare iPhone at home gets it, and Fwrd forwards it to you. Smart OTP codes stay inside the bank’s app.

How to forward Vietnamese OTPs to your phone abroad

1. Pick where the codes should go. Telegram, WhatsApp and email work anywhere you have internet. For Telegram, the Telegram post shows how to make the bot.

2. Add it in Fwrd on the spare iPhone. Open Fwrd, tap +, choose the destination, and fill in its details in the Configuration field. Tap Send Test Message, then save with the tick.

3. Create a Message automation. On iOS 27, open Shortcuts, tap Library, then Automation, then +. If you see Describe a shortcut, tap Edit. Tap Automation, then Message, and change Sender to Message. On iOS 26, open the Automation tab, tap +, and choose Message.

   

4. Type OTP, then make it run without asking. Type OTP, or another word your bank’s code texts contain. Bank texts often come from lettered sender names the Sender picker can’t offer, so match on the words in the text. Then, on iOS 27, tap the arrow beside the trigger and check Confirm Before Run is off, and under ⓘ, then Privacy, check Allow Running When Locked is on. On iOS 26, choose Run Immediately, then tap Next and Create New Shortcut.

5. Add Fwrd’s action. Search for Forward, add Forward Message to All Destinations, and set its Message field to Shortcut Input. For another phone, email or WhatsApp, add Apple’s Send Message, Apple’s Send Email or WhatsApp’s Send Message below it, set its message to Fwrd’s output, and pick the recipient. Give Send Email a subject and turn off Show Compose Sheet. Tap back to save (Done on iOS 26).

6. That’s it. New OTP texts to your Vietnamese number now reach you abroad on their own, with the spare iPhone unlocked or locked.

Turn on Include Who Sent It in Fwrd’s Settings and choose Sender on Fwrd’s action to see which bank sent each code.

How do I keep my Vietnamese SIM active while abroad?

Do the new-phone face check, keep it topped up, and have someone unlock it every few days.

• Do the face check on the spare iPhone before you leave. Since June 15, 2026, Viettel says a SIM moved to another phone needs a new face check within 2 hours. Without it, the number can’t call or text out, then after 30 days can’t receive, and is taken back 5 days later (Viettel, read November 3, 2026). The rule, Article 8 of Circular 08/2026/TT-BKHCN, covers every network (Circular 08/2026, read November 3, 2026).
• Keep it topped up. Vinaphone gives a prepaid number 10 days to top up after outgoing service stops; then incoming stops too, and the number is held 45 days before reuse (VNPT, read November 3, 2026). MobiFone holds a number for 30 days after both directions stop (MobiFone, read November 3, 2026).
• Someone unlocks it every few days. An iPhone that isn’t unlocked for three days restarts itself, and after any restart Fwrd can’t forward until someone unlocks it once.
• Turn off automatic iOS updates and the SIM PIN. An update restarts the phone, and a SIM PIN keeps it off the network after a restart until someone types it.

The codes are yours. Forward OTPs only to a chat or inbox only you can read, never to the family group chat. MB tells customers not to share OTPs with anyone (MB, read November 3, 2026), and some banks’ terms forbid sharing them, so check yours.

Fwrd is free for 15 forwards a month as of November 2026. Fwrd Pro removes the limit; set it up before you leave.

What forwarding can’t do

• It can’t keep the SIM alive. Miss a top-up or the face check, and nothing arrives.
• It can’t do a face check for you. Bank and carrier checks need your own face.
• It can’t send from your Vietnamese number. If your bank’s app needs the SIM in the same phone, or a text sent from it, forwarding can’t solve that.
• It can’t forward Smart OTP, in-app notifications or voice calls.
• It isn’t banking advice. What your bank allows from abroad is up to your bank.