Consumer complaint received 2019-01-23
Company: Square Inc
State: NC
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX a transaction between myself and a XXXX XXXX who claimed to be a home maintenance contractor occurred in the amount of {$1500.00} via the Square Cash Application was initiated. The transaction was noted to be for services to be performed. 

The services to be performed were to be completed on or before XX/XX/XXXX to which they never were. I reached out to the merchant, Mr. XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX to which he had replied that he acknowledged the work hadn't been completed and that he would be returning my deposit on XX/XX/XXXX. I reached out to him on XX/XX/XXXX and he has yet to respond. At this point I acknowledge that I have been defrauded by this individual who has used the Cash application as his platform to take this action. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I initiated a payment request to this individual for return of erroneous refund via Cash Application. It sat unresponded to. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I reached out to the Bank that issued the debit card utilized to make the deposit to this individual and initiated a dispute. The bank XXXX XXXX ( whom I will also be filing a complaint against ) opened the dispute ; and advised that the transaction would be looked into for fraud. 

On XX/XX/XXXX @ XXXX EST I received a text message from Square Cash advising that the payment for refund of erroneous deposit for services request I sent to Mr. XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX had failed. Soon as I received this message I went to the Cash Application and submitted a support ticket advising that the payment of {$1500.00} transacted to this individual on XX/XX/XXXX was fraudulent and I asked for Square Cash to investigate on my behalf. I was shocked to receive only an automated response stating that my account had been closed and that the decision to close my account was final. No mention of the issue of fraud that had occurred. 

I again submitted another ticket via the support portal again reaching out for help to investigate this matter of fraud on XX/XX/XXXX. This time I received a response stating that my case # XXXX had been closed because it had been more that a week since they had heard from me. This is bogus because no one ever reached out to or notified me regarding my fraud inquiry. Furthermore that ID number provided links to no where. No information can be obtained which leads me to believe that it's bogus. 

In response to my dispute filed with my bank, Square advised that the transaction was valid based on the initial transaction going through successfully ; however Square neglected to advised my bank of the attempt to recoup my funds noting the payment as erroneous nor did they advise the bank of my many attempts to have Square Cash investigate the transaction as fraudulent. 

As a consumer using an application established to provide consumers with a safe, efficient means of making transactions for the procurement of goods and services, Square Cash failed to properly investigate this matter to include reaching out to the merchant to provide proof that the goods/services were truly provided as contracted. ( i.e. receipts, photos, contracts etc ). They were also negligent in providing complete information regarding this issue to my bank. 

I leveraged this application as a means to complete a documented transaction which could be traced and/or investigated should an issue such as this arose. This application appears to support fraudulent activity. It does not take proper measures to identify, prevent or investigate fraud. 

I would like a fair and full investigation into this matter in hopes that I can provide evidence that I have to prove my case of services not being rendered and having my {$1500.00} returned back to me rightfully. 

Thank you,

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation