Consumer complaint received 2023-03-14
Company: Block, Inc.
State: TX
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/XXXX I was contacted by XXXX XXXX on XXXX. He told me that he had accidentally sent me {$220.00} on cashapp that was intended for his cleaning person. A few days before this he had been a customer at my food cart, and had paid me with cashapp. I agreed to send the money back as soon as it posted to my account, which I did on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX acknowledged receiving the money by replying with a XXXX emoji on the cashapp application. Something that can only be done after acknowledging the receipt of money on the application. 

Unbeknownst to me at the time, XXXX had also filed a dispute with his/the bank account linked to his cashapp account. His bank credited him {$220.00} pending the outcome of this dispute. So at this point he had the {$220.00} I had returned to him, and also another {$220.00} that his bank had given him. He said nothing to me nor his bank about this double-dipping. 

I only became aware that XXXX had filed the dispute with his bank 2 months later on XX/XX/XXXX, when another {$220.00} was deducted from my credit union account by cashapp on XXXX banks behalf. I immediately contacted XXXX to find out why I was being charged for this again even though I had already given him back his {$220.00}. 

At first XXXX just reminded me that he had accidentally sent me {$220.00} and that I had returned it to him, back in XXXX ( thereby acknowledging again that he had received the money I had refunded him ) I told him that I remembered that, but that this was a separate and new transaction. 

After some back and forth text messages he admitted to me that he had, in addition to asking me to return his money, also disputed the original {$220.00} that he had sent me with his bank. 

At this point I contacted my credit union. I told them what happened, and that I wanted to also dispute the money that I had returned to XXXX because when I sent it I had not been told that he had filed a dispute, and I didnt want to pay him back twice. The credit union employee, XXXX XXXX, mishandled the dispute and disputed the wrong transaction. She claimed she couldnt dispute the transaction that I sent on XX/XX/XXXX returning the money XXXX had sent me because 60 days had passed. So she had tried to dispute XXXX dispute that had granted him the second refund, and that was denied. 
My problem with cashapp is that this never should have been treated as two separate transactions. The refund that I sent to XXXX, at cashapp 's request, should have been credited back to his original payment source, his credit or debit card. Instead it was only deposited in his cashapp account. If it had been credited back to his original payment source XXXX would have been unable to request a second refund for his mistakenly sent {$220.00}. His bank would have been able to see that he had already received a refund. 
As it stands now XXXX has received two refunds from me for the same transaction, and I'm out {$220.00}. Cashapp knows this, I have spoken with cashapp support, and they confirm it, but say I need to dispute it with my bank. My bank tried to dispute it but it was denied because XXXX bank is unaware that he had already received a refund. I don't have the contact information for XXXX bank, so I can't tell them. Cashapp won't tell them either I guess. 
I feel like if everyone who has the power to do something about this had all the facts. I could get my money back. It just isn't reasonable that I be expected to give this guy {$220.00}. I barely know him. He bought a hotdog from me once. I also felt like I had no choice but to return his money, the idea never even occurred to me, if I had kept it that would have made me a thief. I had no way of knowing that there was such a gigantic loophole in the system that would allow someone to receive two refunds for the same transaction and that it would be at my expense, and then no one would do anything about it to make it right except tell me to ask the guy who stole my money to return it.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation