Consumer complaint received 2023-10-31
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: UT
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX I was the victim of a scam operation and paid XXXX to a compromised Venmo account from my own Venmo account. After discovering it was a scam, I reached out to Venmo support the following day ( XX/XX/XXXX ) to let them know it was fraudulent activity and to discharge the balance from the scam account, as it had not yet been transferred out of Venmo or charged to my bank. 

Their support sent me an automated reply instead of actual help, so I submitted an escalated request, which I got a response to asking for details on the transaction. These I provided. The case was sent to an anonymous " account specialist '' who did not reply until XX/XX/XXXX. By this time, I was worried that they would not respond in time and had reached out to my bank to put a stop payment on the charge, which was done successfully. 

When Venmo " account specialist '' replied, they said only that they couldn't put a stop payment or any mediation effort on the transaction, even though the balance had not been yet transferred out of the fraud account. I informed them I had put a stop payment and to clear the balance on the fraud account and disallow it from being transferred out, at least until they could investigate. 

They responded they could take no action. 

I responded by asking if they could explain what would happen since my bank had blocked the charge, and they responded only with " Venmo Help You have a new message from Venmo regarding request # XXXX. To respond, simply reply to this email. 

Hello XXXX, If you have additional questions, please contact our Support team by visiting https : //venmo.com/contact-us/, chatting in from our mobile app ( M-F 24 hours a day ; XXXX XXXX EST ), or calling ( XXXX ) XXXX ( XXXX, XXXX EST ). 

Regards, Account Specialist '' This not only did not help, but took valuable time away from understanding the situation before further action. The evening of the XXXX, the scammer transferred the funds out of the fraud account, and I received a notification from Venmo : " Your payment could not be funded by your bank account ... Reason from your bank : " Payment on this item has been stopped '' Don't worry, we covered you and [ scam account ] has the funds. 
Please pay {$250.00} for the transaction. Please know that your Venmo account has been frozen ( you can not send payments or transfer funds to your bank ). '' Venmo clearly covered a charge against my wishes and advisement, even with a clear indication that the reason the charge did not go through was from a bank freeze, which I had notified them of in advance of the transfer. I called their support and was told by an agent there was no dispute path to take, and I had to clear my balance with them. 

I provided advance notice to Venmo through multiple channels to inform them not only of a scam, but of a block on the payment and they failed to flag the account, halt the transaction for investigation, or indeed provide any information until funding the transfer themselves and immediately demanding repayment, with no recourse or investigation.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief