Vietnam Safety Reports Show Crime Declines, but Scams and Traffic Remain Concerns

Officials reported crime declines in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, while travelers in the same report still described scams and difficult traffic crossings.

Vietnam’s two largest cities reported declines in some crime categories in September 2026, while the same travel report records continuing concerns about scams and road traffic. The figures and visitor accounts describe specific cities and experiences; they are not a guarantee of safety for every trip.

At a September 28 conference, Deputy Minister of Public Security Le Quoc Hung said street crime, organized crime, professional criminal activity and repeat offending had fallen sharply in Ho Chi Minh City. The report gives no percentage for those categories. In Hanoi, crimes against social order fell 12.09% in the first nine months of 2026, according to figures reported at a September 30 Central Public Security Party Committee conference.

The report also says Vietnam placed among the world’s ten safest destinations in the safety-and-security category of the World Economic Forum’s 2026 Travel and Tourism Development Index. It does not give a precise rank in that category.

Individual visitors interviewed in the report described feeling more comfortable in central Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, but several also mentioned scams, unwanted services and busy-road crossings. One account describes a tourist being targeted by shoeshiners near Saigon Square; the story says Ho Chi Minh City police arrested a group on April 10.

These reported trends do not remove the need to assess street conditions in the area you visit. The same article distinguishes perceived street-crime risk from traffic, which some visitors said remained a more immediate concern when crossing busy roads.