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My phone buzzed at my desk last Thursday while I fussed with a particularly finicky report.
“$18 for drinks,” read the Venmo message on the screen.
I simultaneously rolled my eyes and smiled to myself. I explicitly told Trevor he didn’t need to pay me for the extra round of drinks last Saturday but, as per usual, he was using Venmo to ensure all debts were indeed settled.
You see, Trevor is the arbiter of equity and the defender of fairness. He’s the guy that makes sure no one feels taken advantage of. He has a reputation for using Venmo as his tool for justice, wielding it like a sword to ensure fairness throughout the land of late-night drinking and complicated restaurant bills. He didn’t need to pay me, but it was kind that he did.
No sooner did I flip my phone back over to concentrate on my report when a second message buzzed onto my screen. This time, it was from my best friend Al to our three-person group text.
“Someone hacked my Venmo. They stole $3,000,” she wrote.
“What?!?” replied Leah, our third best friend from college. She’s an accountant and tends to get railed up regarding any monetary injustice.
“Can you reverse it? Have you closed your account?!” I said next, immediately walking through her best course of action in my head.
See, Al moved to New York City less than a year ago. She works her ass off in an entry-level job at a travel magazine because it is her dream to work in that industry. She never complains or whines but after exorbitant rent, groceries, and insurance it is not uncommon for her account balance to be dangerously low by the end of the month. She’s 23 and simply doesn’t have a rainy day account to fall back on. I was worried for her, to say the least.
“Yeah, it’s a huge bummer” she replied. “But I contacted Venmo and froze my account. They said they’d get back to me in 3-4 days. I also called my bank, they said they would launch an investigation and get back to me in 7-10 days.”
“3-4 days?!” Leah scoffed. “How is that possible? What are you supposed to do until then?”
“There’s nothing more I can do until Monday. The account that the hacker sent the money to has been closed, so I can’t track it. It’ll all be fine. I’m sure they deal with this a lot.”
So, we all believed her. We went back to work and focused on our plans for the weekend. I even sent a few more Venmo requests and payments back and forth.
My faith in the company hadn’t degraded entirely. I was sure they would sort out my friend. After all, she’d been a customer for forever and operated in good faith that the app was secure. Even if they had to reimburse the $3,000 without finding the thief, what was $3,000 to a multi-billion dollar company?
Unfortunately, I was wrong.
On Monday morning, as I waited for my coffee to brew, Leah and I got four texts in rapid succession.
“What the fuck.”
“Venmo denied my claim!”
“They initially reimbursed me the $3,000, but now they want me to pay it back.”
“What do I do?!”
I couldn’t believe it. Leah and I immediately fired away with both our outrage and questions. and closed our accounts. Who is to say the exact same thing wouldn’t happen to us?
Even if the bank denied her claim, why wasn’t Venmo reimbursing Al for the money that was stolen from her account? It was their app that was hacked! Why was she all the sudden liable for $3,000 that one day was sitting in her bank account, and the next was being transferred via Venmo by some unknown malicious actor?
Ultimately, here’s what happened. Al saw the fraudulent deposit of $3,000 and immediately froze her account. She then contacted Venmo and received an email that they would respond in 3-4 days. She contacted the bank and they launched an investigation. Five days later, Venmo responded to Al’s request. Because they were so late in responding, they issued her a $3,000 credit directly into her bank account while they completed their investigation. When the bank saw the $3,000 deposit from Venmo, they assumed the problem had been solved and halted their investigation. Two days later, Venmo came back to Al and said they had denied her claim, and that she was to return the $3,000 to Venmo immediately.
Al spent the next week going back and forth with the bank and Venmo’s customer service team. They continue to demand she pay the $3,000 that was stolen from her account, regardless of the fact that her bank will not reimburse her for her loss.
I understand that it is the bank’s responsibility to investigate the matter further, but isn’t Venmo equally as culpable. We link our Venmo accounts to our savings accounts in good faith, believing that they are secure. I never imagined they would leave a customer out to dry when the monetary loss was the direct effect of a hack in their own system.
Last night, while I was on the phone with Al and Leah, my heart broke.
“I can’t pay my utility bills because of the Venmo thing,” she said.
My friend, who works her ass off for over 50 hours a week to barely make it by in New York City, now can’t pay her utility bills because of something Venmo did. She can’t buy groceries, her entire savings is depleted, and her morale is terribly low.
New York City can be a wicked beast, but I never thought Venmo would be a willing participant in what has otherwise been a demoralizing year for Al.
In August 2012, Braintree bought Venmo for $26.2 million. The following year, Paypal acquired Braintree (including Venmo) for $800 million. It seems to me like they probably have the capital to correct their mistake when it comes to my friend and her stolen $3,000.
I’m still holding out hope that it is all some clerical error, that they will eventually fix their mistake. That being said, big companies and integrity aren’t always synonymous in our country. Venmo seems to be no exception.
Me? Deleting my account. If a hacker drains your account, just like my friend, who knows if you’ll ever see the money again.
That, or buy a fuck ton of BitCoin – at this point, it seems like a fairly equal gamble. .
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CallMeVictoria
Life is messy, let's get dirty. itwasvictoria@gmail.com
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@itwasvictoria
She needs to go all the way up the ladder on this one. If she does the research, every company (particularly banks) have an “Office of the President” where complaints VIP complaints can be solved in minutes. If she “yells” loud enough, long enough, they’ll probably fix it. Also have her go scorched-Earth on Twitter and Facebook. The last thing Venmo will want is a rumor that their app isn’t secure.
Source: Guy who has done this over a $500 theft from Venmo.
Yelling loud enough to a Bank doesn’t always do the trick. The key to making your complaint heard is utilizing social media (as Mr. Saurus stated). The rate at which complaints on Twitter are picked up on by news outlets, especially in regards to a major company blunders, means there is a HUGE reputational risk to Banks. Banks are already on people’s shit lists and fight very hard to gain market share. Once you air it out on Twitter, someone from the Bank will follow up in a more appropriate manner and get you to a satisfactory resolution.
CMV, tweet this column and let’s start a firestorm about it
PGP twitter just dropped a tweet about this article. Y’all go retweet and @Venmo
I just got paid 14000 D0llar working off my laptop this month. And if you think that’s cool, my divorced friend has twin toddlers and made over $9k her first month. It feels so good making so much money when other people have to work for so much less. Read More…. www.Jobzon3.com
So do you make 14000 or 6784 dollar? It matters when looking for a new gig.
Get bent.
I just got paid 6784 D0llar working off my laptop this month. And if you think that’s cool, my divorced friend has twin toddlers and made over $9k her first month. It feels so good making so much money when other people have to work for so much less. Read More…. www.Jobzon3.com
Found the hacker.
What’s her venmo name and how much is her utility bill? I’m sure the PGP community can help her out.
I am also in for this.
My recommendation to all my friends:
STOP USING VENMO! FOR THIS VERY REASON!
If you have an account with a major US based Bank, you have access to Zelle, which works the same as Venmo (i.e. utilizing names, phone numbers or emails to find your contact), except it utilizes the same security your online bank uses. Bank’s digital security is seriously top notch and one of the largest line item expenditures year in and year out. For real, stop using Venmo and start using Zelle. Open your mobile banking app and enable it. Money goes right into your deposit account. Super simple. Super safe.
Source: Me (banker at a very large US based Bank)
Can confirm, a lobbyist for another very large US based bank
This is my new friend, everyone.
I would like to ditto and reiterate this comment. Source: National Bank Examiner
The big banks, the ones invested in Zelle, have been brow beaten over and over umpteen times about their cyber security due to them having records of and relatively easy access to nearly all of a customer’s financial identity. Venmo is only going to spend enough on IT costs to make the app run smoothly for customers. And as always, use credit cards when making online purchases. That’s the bank’s money and they care about that way more than they care about your money
I really like how commenters site their sources now. Not MLA format, but still good nonetheless.
Source: a commenter
Source Confirmed: a second commenter
I really like how commenters are citing their own comments as sources.
Miss me with that MLA. It’s all about that APA, fam.
*cite
Please downvote me, I hate myself for this correction
Fuck that I’m not gonna stop using venmo…they have emojis
Zelle is awesome.
Agreed. It’s actually faster (instantaneous from account to account). And, as mentioned, so much more secure. Source: me, VP of Fraud for one of the nation’s largest regional banks
Can confirm. Zelle is where it’s at. PayPal second.
Really hoping for a Nived comment on this one
That’s why you need to go with Zelle. Because it’s through the bank, it is subject to the same regulations and scrutiny that a bank has to go through.
Or, just carry cash.
*From a bank lobbyist
Any suggestions for a tiny credit union member who doesn’t have access to Zelle? Am I just stuck with Venmo for the time being?
PayPal
Zelle has its own app that I believe you can still use (as opposed to it being in your banking app). OR Capital One has nice free checking accounts – get one, put the money in that you would zelle to others
Can she just tell Venmo to fuck off and not return the $3000? I’d move the money to an account they never had access to and tell them to come and take it
The eventual lawsuit would cost her friend more than $3000 probably if she lost.
We’re using the Cash App now. We’re not using those other apps anymore.
A better way to cook
AWL?
“We link our Venmo accounts to our savings accounts in good faith, believing that they are secure”
No offense, but that’s literally one of the dumbest things you can do. Venmo has been proven to be unsecure and easily hackable, time and time again. The only bank that should be linked to your savings account is another bank.
Did your friend find out why Venmo denied her claim?
Agree with this. Have venmo linked to an account that doesn’t have too much in it for this exact reason. Also, fuck venmo and their $3000 request. This is business, they fucked up. Make them fight for the $3,000. They won’t do anything ridiculous because any effort beyond asking for the money back from you is going to cost them more than the $3,000.
CMV, do not link your Venmo to a SAVINGS account… link it to your checking which should have less money to steal. Also, (even though i know it was a joke) DO NOT BUY BITCOIN.
If you can’t/won’t quit Venmo, at the very least do this now: tap the menu (upper left of the home screen); tap Settings (very bottom); scroll down to Security and enable “Touch ID & PIN”. At the very least it prevents someone from picking up your phone and making a payment.
Also holy crap how does an app with a direct line to your checking account not have two factor authentication???