Consumer complaint received 2022-01-18
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc (CA)

On XX/XX/XXXX of this year, I attempted to use Venmo to complete a payment that would be covered by its recently created payment protection program. 

Prior to conducting the transaction I made sure to read the details of the service because I am extra cautious about online transactions and the potential for fraud. The seller had posted a listing on XXXX XXXX and had a profile with a number of indicators that would suggest they were a regular person ( friends, actual pictures, not created recently, etc. ). The transaction amount was also small enough, {$65.00}, that it would not be a tremendous loss. While completing the payment, I was careful to toggle the purchase feature on and saw the green shield icon with a checkmark indicating that my purchase would be covered if I did not receive the item purchased as it was described. The seller communicated to be that they had received the payment and would ship after the XXXX XXXX holiday ; however, they're accounts on Venmo and XXXX became inactive and/or un-viewable. 

I reached out to Venmo to utilize what I had assumed would be a straight forward process of refunding funds that should have been frozen until I received and inspected the item ; however, the agent I was connected with claimed that I had not enabled purchase protection. I was absolutely shocked because I was very deliberately intending to use this feature for this transaction. The agent refused to provide a representative identification number and claimed I'd get an email transcript and follow up. I explained to her that I wanted this issue escalated to both the software department because I am confident that a log of app button presses would show that I selected the option. I also asked that it be escalated to her manager due to her unwillingness to provide information that I could use to identify her within the company while resolving this issue. Thirdly, I asked for it to be escalated to someone who could handle fraudulent transactions. She claimed it could only be escalated to one person at a time. From there, I received and responded to several generic emails that seemed to ignore my specific complaints that the app functionality was not working or that scammers were exploring a glitch with eliminating the purchase protection. I also mentioned that my next step would be to reach out to the CFPB and/or related local agencies/authorities. Venmo did not refund my money and said some action, that they could not specify, might be taken against the person who did not follow through on the transaction. In this instance Venmo is perpetrating financial fraud through a vague and ambiguous purchase protection service that does not seem to work and which they refuse to clearly support. It also seems that even if a consumer were to fail to properly enable the protection service, it is a poorly defined and implemented financial product ( it sounds like they charge the seller ) that lacks clear confirmation before purchases are made. Please help stop Venmo from benefiting from fraudulent activity.