Consumer complaint received 2021-01-22
Company: Square Inc
State: TX
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
Requested refund for scam charge of {$1200.00}. 

We purchased a puppy from them off of XXXX. https : XXXX We paid {$1200.00} and dog has several birth defects. I looked up and the individual has no license that I can find for Texas. The vet stated that the dog has a birth defect hernia and small nasal passages. This something that a vet and breeder should have identified prior to sale. I paid via CASHAPP to XXXX XXXX at $ XXXX I have contacted the breeder at the provided phone number XXXX and have not received a response. I contacted CashApp, and they stated to request a refund from the vendor but stated they will not assist outside of the request. The vendor has not responded to my text or cash app request. This vendor is not in compliance with Cash Apps Terms and Conditions and operating as a business under a individual users account. 

CashApp Vendor First of all, the Vendor that used the CashApp application is fake and not an authentic company or vendor with CashApp. The transaction was a scam conducted through a secure banking transaction via CashApp. CashApp has the contact information and banking information for both the Seller/Vendor ( XXXX XXXX ) and the customer, myself. Upon investigated it was determined by me and the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation that XXXX XXXX is not a licensed breeder in the state of Texas. In fact, the contact information provide is fake. The phone number and email provided are not genuine contact information. 
At this point, I have no way of contacting CashApps vendor. 

CashApp responses Denied request to work with a single representative At this point, CashApp has randomly provided me with 20 different representatives. Every response is from a different representative who is looking at my case for the first time. I have provided the emails in my documentation but so far, the names are XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and XXXX. 
Closing Case CashApp continues to close my case without resolution just to clear their active tickets. My cases have been closed 3 times without any assistance or help with the fraudulent scam charge. 
Unable to Open Cases At this point, I am unable to open any more cases on the issue. CashApp has locked my ability to open any new tickets and will no longer address the issue with me. 
CashApp Solution CashApps solution to this point is to contact the vendor to resolve the dispute using the refund function and offline from CashApp. This is solution is not feasible as I have stated above and indicated with CashApp several times. I can not contact the Vendor because the contact information that I have is fake. Instead, CashApp has all of the Vendor contact information and has not provided due to privacy issues. More importantly CashApp has failed to get involved to help dispute an issue between a Vendor and Customer using their claimed secure transaction application. 
Terms of Service CashApp has now resulted to the legal response of provided the correct information for this issue, consistent with our Terms of Service. This is the only response that CashApp will use at this point. I see that it is consistent with a large number of complaints with the XXXX XXXX XXXX. It is clear, that CashApp has no intent on fixing the issue. 
I am not a lawyer and can not get into a legal debate with CashApp. Instead, I am trying use the services of XXXX to help mitigate the issue at hand. With that being said. CashApp has failed to outline how they have provided the correct information that is consistent with their Terms of Service. Therefore, I have outlined below how CashApp has failed their commitment to me as a customer.

1. General Terms of Service CashApp Account : Section III.1 Cash App Account This section states that each participant in CashApp You represent and warrant that you own the email or mobile phone number you register with and all information entered or collected in the course of creating your Account and any information you subsequently add or update from your settings ( Account Information ) is true and accurate. I have provided such information ; however, the Vendor used a fake phone and email and has violated this clause. If the email and phone number that I provided does not match the CashApp records, then the Vendor in fact has violated the CashApp terms. CashApp should get involved as indicates further that CashApp has the authority to validate the identity of all registered parties. 
CashApp Account : Section III.4 Unauthorized Transaction This section states We will protect you from Unauthorized Transactions in your Account. When this protection applies, we will cover you for the full amount of the Unauthorized Transaction. This transaction is not authorized, and it was a scam transaction. CashApp should get involved and issue a full refund as promised. 
CashApp Account : Section III.7 CashTags This section states Your Cashtag must accurately and truthfully represent your business or personal identity. You may not select a Cashtag that misleads or deceives others as to your identity or creates an undue risk of chargebacks or mistaken payments. The Vendor clearly violated this clause in that they used a Cashtag that deceived me into thinking they were a legitimate business that was previously vetted by CashApp. 
CashApp Account : Section III.8 Sharing of Your Information This section states We will share Account Information and transaction information, including your name, the amount, and a description, with the other party to your transaction and in accordance with our Privacy Policy. The privacy policy goes further to state that, We may share the personal information described in the Information We Collect About You section with the following categories of service providers and third parties : With other users of our Services with whom you interact through your own use of our Services. For example, we may share information with your customers when you make or accept a payment, appointment, or money transfer using our Services. I have requested the Seller contact information on many cases and CashApp has refused to provide anything. This is a violation of CashApp agreement with me as a Customer. 
Peer to Peer Service : Section V.8 Invalid P2P Payments This section states If you receive a P2P Payment and we later determine in our sole discretion that the P2P Payment was invalid for any reason, you hereby authorize us to move funds from the applicable Eligible Transaction Account or Eligible Credit Account in an amount equal to the P2P Payment. You acknowledge and agree that we will not be liable in any way for any P2P Payments that you may receive, regardless of whether you authorized the Sender to send them to you. If this is considered a P2P Payment, then it is invalid and CashApp should reverse this charge as the Seller was operating a business under a private account. 
Cash for Business : Section VII.1 Transaction Processing for Sellers of Goods or Services This Section states In connection with the Payment Services ( as defined in the Payment Terms ), you authorize us to act as your agent for the purposes of holding, receiving, and disbursing funds on your behalf. Once you have created an Account you will be able to accept payments from Cash App users for the sale of goods and services. We will, acting on your behalf, facilitate the processing of such payment transactions. We will charge you a fee for doing so. Payments from your customers, less our fee, will be deposited to your Cash App Balance. You acknowledge and agree that you may not have all features and functionality of a standard Square Account. To protect the integrity of the system and reduce risk that a transaction may be reversed or charged back to your Square Account ( a Chargeback ), in some cases where we reasonably believe a Chargeback is likely, you also direct and authorize us, as your agent, to void the transaction, rather than hold funds as described in the Payment Terms. It is clear that the Seller violated the CashApp Terms of Service by operating a Business under a Personal account. This was a business transaction. I do not know the Seller, and I have no way of contacting them. CashApp should step in and conduct a Chargeback simply because the Seller violated CashApps Terms of Service. 
Cash for Business : Section VII.2 Purchases from Cash for Business Sellers This section states In the event you are entitled to a reversal, refund, chargeback, or other adjustment associated with any purchase you made through Cash for Business, you also authorize a credit to the applicable Eligible Transaction Account or Eligible Credit Account to accomplish that transaction. Do to the fact that I have no way of contacting the Seller and can not resolve this issue Offline, then I am entitled to a chargeback on my VISA Debit Card. A refund must be issued. 
Other Legal Terms : Section VIII.1 Recovery of Funds This section states You authorize Square to recover funds from you in accordance with these Service Terms and any other agreement you have with us, including if you owe amounts to us or for reason of fraud or illegal activity. This transaction was fraudulent and a scam. CashApp needs to reverse the charge.

Summary There are a few key points to take away : 1. The CashApp Vendor or Business is fake and not properly registered with the State of Texas of CashApp as a legitimate business. The transactions in question are a scam. 
2. CashApp has failed to provide adequate support under their own Terms and within a general reasonable response expected by an institution conducting secure banking transactions.

3. CashApp continues to bounce me around between different service representatives. Does not have a reliable phone number to call for support and has completely blocked my ability to file claims at this point. 
4. I have pointed some areas where the Terms of Service has been violated without outlining all of them. CashApp has not addressed these issues and now provides only pre-fabricated standard response.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation