Consumer complaint received 2024-10-10
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Managing, opening, or closing your mobile wallet account — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc (CA)

Venmo case # XXXX First complaint to CFPB XXXX I simply want this account closed. For unclear reasons, Venmo refuses to do so and ignores my follow up emails. This stems from a fraudulent transaction from XXXX. 

The most recent emails between Venmo and me : Venmo email dated XX/XX/XXXX Venmo Help You have a new message from Venmo regarding request # XXXX. To respond, simply reply to this email. 
Hi XXXX, XXXX here from Venmo Support. Thanks for reaching out to us! I'd be happy to take a look into that for you! 

Weve had a chance to review your account and it appears your case requires additional attention from another team. I will forward your case and they will follow up with you here, via email in XXXX business days. 

In order to make this a smooth process, please respond to this email chain with any additional questions or concerns that you may have. Thank you for understanding! 

Regards, XXXX XXXX Support | Venmo My response on XX/XX/XXXX : " Weve had a chance to review your account and it appears your case requires additional attention from another team. I will forward your case and they will follow up with you here, via email in XXXX business days. '' It's been XXXX business days since you sent that. It's now XXXX weeks since the fraudulent activity. When will your " team '' close this account? 


The original response from my initial complaint on this, promising a closing of the account and follow up information, neither of which have been forthcoming : On XX/XX/XXXX, you created a Venmo account ( " Account '' ) at which time you agreed to Venmo 's User Agreement. That same day, you provided Venmo with your XXXX XXXX XXXX bank account ( Bank Account ) information to be used as a funding source and for withdrawals. On XX/XX/XXXX, a payment was sent from your Account totaling {$100.00} ( Payment ) using your Bank Account to XXXX ( Merchant XXXX ). After your Payment was completed, XXXX more payments were attempted within your Account ; however, all three of those payment attempts were denied. The first payment attempt was to XXXX ( Merchant XXXX ) for {$150.00}, followed by another payment to XXXX XXXX for {$50.00}, with the last payment attempted being to XXXX XXXX as well for {$200.00}. In order to prevent fraud and help ensure the safety of the Venmo system, Venmo utilizes automated tools to scan transactions and review accounts for potential fraudulent or high-risk activity. That same day, these tools identified your Account as potentially high risk. In this case, our internal security system identified several denied payments being attempted to inconsistent merchants, resulting in our internal system deeming this activity as an elevated risk concern. As a result, we limited your Account as permitted under the Holds and Limitations section of the User Agreement. We notified you of your Account being limited that same day through email, while also requesting that you change your Account password, and provide an unexpired government-issued photo identification document, along with a photo of yourself holding the same unexpired US government-issued photo identification document. Later that same day, we received a notification from your financial institution associated with your Bank Account advising that the Payment was unauthorized. In addition, that same day, you contacted us directly and opened a claim ( Claim ) for unauthorized activity which included the Payment. Given this notification, XXXX was prompted to complete a review of your Account including your login and payment history to determine if indicators were present that would correlate with unauthorized activity. We notified you of your Claim being opened and our investigation that same day through email. On XX/XX/XXXX, you contacted Venmo Support and expressed your dissatisfaction with the Payment completion ; although, you notified us of the Payment being unauthorized the day beforehand. On XX/XX/XXXX, your financial institution associated with your Bank Account requested that the funds associated with the Payment be returned, which we complied with. That same day, Venmo concluded our investigation and accepted your Claim that the Payment was unauthorized. We notified you of your Claims adjudication that same day through email. Typically, when bank-funded transactions are completed, Venmo payouts on that transaction instantly to the intended recipient, and simultaneously process the funds associated with the payment we paid out from the sender 's bank account over the next XXXX to XXXX business days. In your situation, we deemed the Payment as unauthorized given the inconsistencies we located within your Account. As a result, we did not hold you responsible for the funds we initially paid out instantly on your behalf to XXXX XXXX XXXX days beforehand. On XX/XX/XXXX, you provided Venmo with your unexpired US government-issued photo identification document, along with a photo of yourself holding the same unexpired government-issued photo identification document. In addition, you also updated and/or changed your Account password as requested. Usually, once this information is provided, and your Account password is updated, we remove your Account limitation and restore your Account access, but that was not the case in your situation, as we initially detected risk was still present within your Account. Subsequently, your Account limitation remained in place, resulting in your Account remaining limited at the time of my review. On XX/XX/XXXX, I completed a thorough review of your Complaint, your Account including your Claim, and all of the actions taken by Venmo up until this point. After completing my review, I was able to determine that you have provided enough information to verify and confirm your identity. As a result, I did attempt to close your Account but encountered an issue when trying to complete that task, as our system advised of a dispute pending within your Account. Given this information, I will continue to monitor your Account as well as reach out to our internal teams to determine what dispute or claim is causing this inability to close your Account. Once identified I will address that situation, and close your Account. In addition, I will contact you through email to confirm the exact date that your Account was closed when completed. In the meantime, your Account will remain in a limited space which will prevent any activity from occurring until I can close your Account. With that understanding, I want to again apologize for this experience, while also thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. Venmo understands that our customer 's feedback while using our services is paramount to Venmo making future changes. With that said, I am saddened to see that you no longer want your Venmo Account, but completely understand your decision. In closing, I want to thank you for your time and patience throughout this entire process as well as wish you well going forward with all of your future endeavors.