Originally Posted by
refurb
Not too surprising.
Several high ranking Vietnamese politicians have stepped down after being caught in the Vietnam repatriation scheme during Covid. You couldn't get back into the country except on repatriation flights, and people at the VN embassies were charging $9,000 - $15,000 USD for the approvals and flights - flights that would cost $1,000 to $2,000 normally.
You can google "vietnam repatriation flight scandal" to find a bunch of articles. High up in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have resigned already.
The problem was that many of the people they charged were relatively high up people in Vietnam with connections to the government. Thus the ripped off people who, if complained, would be heard.
So the only solace is that they didn't rip you off because you're a tourist, they do it to Vietnamese citizens as well.
Exactly
It's definitely not tourist specific.
Customs officials have a field day with the locals returning back to Vietnam often pulling them aside and trying to get something out of them in the way of cash payments to be allowed through customs.
My Vietnamese co worker who lives in Australia was targeted just a few months ago. After much arguing her 3M VND cash customs duty was eventually bargained down to 1M, cash in the passport then handed to the official.