Consumer complaint received 2023-12-06
Company: Block, Inc.
State: TX
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I have all the dates/fraudulent transactions/merchant names etcetera saved in my notes dating back to September 2nd when the CASH APP scam started targeting my accounts. It started with the credit cards I had linked to my cash app account but it progressed to include my bank accounts as well. Initially I didnt connect these transactions to cash app because I had just received a notification from a third party that contracts with Texas HHSC telling me that my identity was compromised by a recent database breach, which I naturally attributed to the fraudulent transactions, so I reported them that way as these transactions kept happening. Eventually however it got out of hand to the point where whenever my bank or credit card company would issue me a new card to replace one that had been hit with the fraudulent transactions, somehow the new cards were getting hit by fraudulent charges BEFORE I received/activated them, so basically as soon as the replacement cards were generated they would somehow start processing charges to them in my name. Now I knew that these charges were the result of the same scam because ALL of the fraudulent charges were being processed through the same 3-4 online services (including Cash App itself, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and occasionally thered be an online charge to XXXX or some random big name retailer, but primarily all of them were back to back from those same servers). Now I was originally getting refunded for all of the fraudulent charges following investigations initiated by my bank/credit card companies, so it wasnt affecting my finances as much as it was an inconvenience having to wait for the refunds to be issued, not to mention confusing because the sheer number of transactions and refunds were overlapping one another so I couldnt really keep track of everything. So Im assuming that my identity has been stolen by this point since they were somehow accessing newly generated card data prior to me receiving and/or activating the cards. I have over a dozen cards now that have been issued over the past few months that are a direct result of this ongoing scam, but again, I had no reason to believe that this was connected to Cash App up until yesterday.
On XXXX XXXX I had $XXXX  leftover in my Cash App account that had been sent to me by my daughter (through her Cash App account). Actually it was exactly $XXXX Around XXXX on XXXX XXXX  I signed into my Cash App account to discover all but XXXX remaining balance. So this was the first time that my Cash App was actually involved with these fraudulent transactions, although many of the fraudulent transactions that were hitting my credit/bank accounts were reflecting as though they had been issued through Cash App transactions. So I signed into their online Chat system to speak with a representative to report the fraudulent transactions. They said that I would likely receive the money back once they completed their investigation which they claimed would be done in ten days time, and because my bank/credit account companies had been refunding all the fraudulent transactions, I had no reason to suspect otherwise. However I signed back into the message service with Cash App yesterday to confirm that the refund was being issued and they said that they had sent me an email on XXXX XXXX (not even 36 hours after I had reported the transaction) denying my claim and saying they based their decision on the results of their investigation which, as it turned out they said all they did was review my transaction history to conclude that either I had processed the transaction or someone who I had given access to my Cash App account. Now I immediately pointed out two problems with their method of investigation: (1) Nobody else has access to my account to process the transaction and (2) Nowhere in my transaction history was there any name remotely similar to the one that was used by the other Cash App account that had received my money. 
So the representative replies that theres nothing that I can do about it because theyve already closed the investigation so as far as they were concerned they had handled the matter. So naturally my next question was how do I close my Cash App account? They sent me the link but also informed me that they still keep all the account information thats tied to my Cash App account even after accounts are canceled and they offered no explanation for why they wouldnt delete my other account information so I asked them to send me the transcript of that entire conversation (which I intended to use as evidence for this complaint), but they told me that they dont have any such feature in place, so basically theyre telling me that they have the capacity and authority to continue storing users bank/credit account information after the Cash App accounts were deleted, but yet they dont have any means of storing tracking or sending customer conversations, which is difficult for me to believe in the first place, but I let it go and tried to delete my account. Now remember I had XXXX leftover from the transaction on XXXX XXXX  but then yesterday whenever I followed the link that they had sent me to delete my account, they have an automated message saying that I cant have any money, crypto currency, or debts on my account otherwise I cant cancel it. First off Im thinking about just using the XXXX to place a cheap order using my Cash App debit card, but when I exited out of the link I see that I only have XXXX XXXX left in my account, effectively precluding me from making any purchases or sending the remaining balance to empty my account thereby allowing me to delete it. So I go back to my messages to ask them to remove the XXXX XXXX and I told them that I had had XXXX XXXX when I had reported the fraudulent transaction but now I only have one cent. So they then go on to say that I need to file another report so that they can investigate the claim before they can help me delete my account, so I tell them I dont care about the.XXXX cents, just keep the penny and remove it from my account, then they stop replying altogether. So you probably think that this story is over like I did, but youd be as wrong as I was about it because today Im sitting with my husband when I received two notifications simultaneously. Ones from our XXXX XXXX account and the other is from my Cash App account. So my husband checks the XXXX XXXX  account while Im checking the Cash App account thinking maybe theyve returned my money, but Im surprised to see that it appears that someone is trying to send money to my Cash App account for XXXX  and at the same time its telling me that I need to put a new bank/credit card on my Cash App account to receive the money and whats even weirder is that its not telling me whose attempting to send me money, and then my husband says that its another fraudulent transaction thats been declined by our credit card since we now have to lock our cards to prevent fraudulent charges whenever were not using them. How much was declined and what was the merchant you ask? It was a Cash App transaction in the amount of XXXX  (emphasis on the offset of one cent). If the totality of these circumstances isnt sufficient evidence of Cash App being a scam then I dont think anyone will ever be able to take down this company because I read the article from March which was posted by XXXX XXXX on the investigation into Cash App scams which also mentioned the CFPBs unanswered inquiries into Cash Apps business affairs. So if theres any investigation still open then this should probably be filed with it, otherwise Id like you to investigate these claims as I said I have everything documented and Ive taken screenshots of the most pertinent parts of my conversation with them yesterday. Oh yeah and thats another oddly timed instance that happened today; our primary bank account (which has historically been linked to Cash App) was hit with eight fraudulent transactions last night which were all from XXXX through XXXX (as I said majority of my transactions were also posted to XXXX on my accounts, oftentimes for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX purchases), so his paycheck is dropping tomorrow and weve had to transfer all money into our savings account, not knowing for certain if it has ever been linked with Cash App. So were going to have to close out our bank accounts tomorrow to preempt any further fraud charges from being withdrawn from our family account, not knowing if therell be any money leftover because I had threatened to report Cash App yesterday which I suspect is why we received the advanced attempts from my account to get me to submit additional bank/credit cards to my account which cant be deleted because of the remaining XXXX  balance, but even if I could cancel it now, I want to keep the conversation open in hopes that you guys can intervene. So thats everything and I swear to every word of it, to the best of my knowledge and recollection. And I dont think its always been like this either because Ive had Cash App for years without any issues but I also read in that article about how ownership has transferred and that its the most recent owners who are/were investigated. So yeah.its a scam and its going to happen on a national level if you guys dont do something soon.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation