Consumer complaint received 2025-01-13 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: MO

Complaint narrative:
On Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX, I was informed that I had been the victim of a scam and informed that where I thought I had been sending funds ( {$220.00} ) to a friend for a washer/dryer, that their account had been hacked and I had sent it to a scammer. I called VenMo immediately to take action and find out how to protect my account and was advised by their representative to : report the transaction in question to VenMo, report the user 's account the funds were sent to to VenMo, and they told me to contact my bank to issue a stop-payment request. I was told that will sometimes work, but not always depending if the funds had already been cashed by the recipient. I followed all of the steps given, reset my password, and immediately called my bank to put a fraud watch on my account and to request the stop payment. The stop-payment did actually work, and I received confirmation from my bank that it was stopped. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a notice from XXXX XXXX that my stop payment request had been successful so I thought the issue had been resolved. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received notice from VenMo that they recommended I reach out to the recipient of the payment to request the funds back. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a notice from Venmo stating, " XXXX XXXX, we want to let you know that a recent transaction was not paid by your XXXX XXXX  account ending in XXXX  {$220.00} to XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Washer/Dryer Reason from your bank " Payment on this item has been stopped '' Don't worry, we covered you and XXXX XXXX has the funds. Please pay {$220.00} for the transaction. Please know that your Venmo account has been frozen ( you can not send payments or transfer funds to your bank ). '' I called VenMo and explained to them that their customer service representative had directed me to call the bank and issue the stop payment, that I had not authorized them to " cover me '', and had intended for it to stop since it was a scam and asked them to please unlock my account, to which they refused. 

In early XXXX, I reached back out to VenMo customer support and explained the situation asked if there was a supervisor I could communicate with about the issue. I received an auto-response, that in addition to the steps I had been given, also noted that if I was unable to reach the user to request my funds back, to file a complaint with local law enforcement. On XXXX, I reported this issue to the FTC [ report # can be provided ] ; since the issue happened while I was travelling inter-state to visit my grandfather, I was not sure what " local '' jurisdiction this would fall under. 

A few days later, I tried to log into my VenMo account and it was completely locked and blocked, not even giving me the ability to login. I assumed they had disabled it due to the FTC request and that I would hear something from one of them. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my younger sister sent me money via VenMo ( unbeknownst to me, she was trying to " treat '' me to dinner ). When she told me she put the money in my account, I told her my account was disabled and she said it went through just find. I received a notice from VenMo that " We've used the {$45.00} in your Venmo account towards the outstanding amount you owed from the payment we've listed below. You now owe Venmo {$170.00}. '' I told her to call them and request her funds back because I did not know my account was still active, and I did not want it going towards a balance that I was disputing. She contacted their customer service and was denied. 

I read recently that the CFPB is going after XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX for failing to prevent fraud on XXXX. I feel that VenMo falls in this category directly and should also be part of this investigation for similar practices. Any help that you may be able to provide would be most helpful and greatly appreciated.

Supporting documentation has been attached. 

Kindly, XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation