Consumer complaint received 2022-04-14
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc (PA)

To whom It May Concern - I have used Venmo to transfer money to family and friends - only three individuals. 

Last Tuesday on XX/XX/2022, a old friend was without funds while waiting for a reverse mortgage was in need of money, so I attempted to transfer {$200.00} to her email address. Her email address is " XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ''. I sent it to " XXXX ''. 
when I realized my mistake, I searched online for a Customer Support phone number to rectify the situation. The number I called was XXXX XXXX. 
On this call, I first got the same preliminary recorded message that I got when I called them back yesterday when I noticed all the debits from my account. 

the person on the other end of the conversation asked to remotely join me on my phone. They first said they needed to verify who I was. They asked for me to send someone I knew some money and then have them return it. 
Of the three individuals that I have used Venmo with before ( two are my offspring and one is my daughter 's boyfriend ), my daughter and son both work during the day and my daughter 's boyfriend works at night and was sleeping. 
They insisted that I text my son and wait for a response. then they asked me to try the others. I said that I did not want to do that and disturb them while they were working or sleeping. but they told me to try anyway. 
I finally got a response from my son and I transferred money to him. He texted me that he saw the transfer, and transferred it back. 
They individual on the phone asked me to try someone else in order to further verify who I was. So I tried my daughter 's boyfriend but he did not respond. 
So the next request was to send money to addresses of people I did not know and to type in the message the word " Verify ''. I did this. Then they requested that I try several other addresses of people that I did not know. 
After a while, all the money in my account was depleted and the requests were refused by the bank. 
After that, they asked me if I had other accounts I could use. I have credit cards with several large banks such as XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX XXXX, but no bank accounts. They tried to get funds from those accounts but were refused. 
then I was transferred to the " business department ''. this guy said that they were going to give me a Business credit card. and again he tried my credit cards. I told him I was not interested in a credit card, so he gave me what was supposed to be his name - XXXX XXXX and said he would call me back at XXXX XXXX since I needed to get back to work. 

Because they were remotely viewing my actions, I could also see the responses on my phone. They were directing me as to what symbols, words, etc... to write or tap, but all this was directed move be move be them. I was doing this from my car because I was working in the field that day, and could see the phone number on my digital read out screen. 

At one point, we were disconnected. I got a call back from a phone number in XXXX XXXX. That number is XXXX. 


My call must have been hacked or transferred to someone within their company who is taking advantage of the supposed support that customers are supposed to receive. I called the same phone number that is shown on Venmo 's website, After I saw that none of the people whom I did not know were not yet showing on my Venmo account, I called Venmo again at the same number and the response was that I should have emailed them. I asked to speak to a supervisor of the agent I was talking to and at first, he said that was impossible. when I insisted, he finally put me through to another individual who said something to the effect of " You know how it is these days, everything can get hacked! '' He could see all the transfers and named them off to me. 

I have lodged a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and gave them all this information. I mentioned that if they called the New York phone number right away, they might catch these people. I did receive an email back form them that I had lodged this complain. 

I am contacting you because I myself and other friends have gotten satisfaction through your efforts. 

Venmo is owned by Pay Pal and they have protection for this kind of fraud. They say if the money goes to an incorrect but valid email, they have no recourse, but there is no one else with that email address. 

Thank you for your efforts, XXXX XXXX