Consumer complaint received 2023-11-02
Company: Block, Inc.
State: TN
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem

Complaint:
On XX/XX/23 approx. XXXX PM XXXX XXXX ( a friend & our house cleaner ) sent me {$1400.00} via Cash App & I didn't know why, I sent her a text with a picture of the transaction asking what it was about, her reply was please send the money back which I did a refund. A few minutes later I received another deposit on Cash App for {$900.00} & a text that said, accept this money then pay it back to her but don't do a refund, which I did. XXXX texted again to ask if I sent the money back which I did & sent her a snip showing transaction completed ( Identifier # XXXX ). XXXX promptly called to inform me she never got the money & just realized that the man helping her with her problem was a scammer, she had given him access to her phone & bank account information & he rerouted the money to a XXXX XXXX XXXX account XXXX she couldn't reach him. Realizing it was a scan, I reported it on my end to Cash App, XXXX called Cash App & sent in a Fraud Report with them ( Case # XXXX - which she stated Cash App denied & closed ). XXXX couldn't get ahold of anyone since it was a Friday & weekend and she was upset because her house payment would be drawing out of her account and he stole her {$900.00}. My husband & I decided to loan her {$900.00} until she could get this reported & her money refunded. XXXX went to her bank ( XXXX XXXX  ) first thing Monday morning, filed the claim. The bank refunded her money and she paid us back the {$900.00}. Thought this was resolved for her but on XX/XX/23 @ XXXX PM I got a text message from Cash App stating " XXXX XXXX filed a dispute with their bank for the {$900.00} payment you received on XX/XX/23. This payment will be refunded from your account. '' I logged into my bank & saw it pending on my checking account. I immediately called Cash App to dispute this as I clearly sent back her payment but they said it was standard procedure whenever a bank contacts them to report fraud. I talked with XXXX & she then called her bank & was assured she would get this money & could then give it back to me. What? I did nothing wrong. I called my bank ( Regions ) to see if they could help me, spoke to XXXX in the XXXX department who advised me to disconnect my accounts from Cash App, cancel my debit card, then said once the transaction is no longer pending I could dispute these charges. Called Cash App back to see if I could speak to a manager about their procedure, the Customer Support Rep stated she could see on my account that I wasn't at fault but this was standard procedure to refund the money to the bank if their is a fraud dispute. The dispute however, wasn't with me! If Cash App received the fraud complaint, looked at my transaction history, saw I refunded the money then they should simply tell XXXX XXXX  that they found no wrong doing on my behalf. I am their customer and should have some measure of protection! No, instead they took another {$900.00} from my checking without any phone call to me, no answer to my reporting a problem. This is wrong. Their procedures are wrong! I called Cash App again today ( XX/XX/23 ) spoke to XXXX, explained the problem & requested to speak to a manager & he put me with XXXX. I explained this again, she apologized & said this was their procedure so she couldn't help me. I asked XXXX what their procedure was when they got the fraud report & why wouldn't someone look out for my interest, research my transactions to see that I had refunded the money immediately to XXXX so there was no grounds to refund any money from me ( their customer ) & tell XXXX XXXX  to look elsewhere that there was no evidence of fraud on my behalf- but instead they just initiated a withdraw from my checking account for {$900.00} and sent me a text message - no phone call, no investigation, nothing! XXXX didn't know the answer so I asked to speak to the Compliance Manager or her Manager & was told she was as far as I could go that I needed to resolve this with XXXX & her bank! When I told them I was filing a CFPB complaint XXXX then said she would forward this to her manager, XXXX, who would reach out to me on email. I haven't gotten anything yet, but regardless, Cash Apps procedures need to be looked at to protect their customers instead of punishing me who did nothing wrong, causing me undo stress, possibly now bouncing my checks & online payments, fees, etc. They certainly need to be investigated!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation