Consumer complaint received 2024-01-24 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: AZ

Complaint narrative:
My account was frozen after depositing {$1000.00} in XXXX. 

Venmo has told me multiple times that they need to verify my identity. 

I sent them the documents they need, they confirmed that they have them and have passed them to the correct team and have needed XXXX days multiple times now for processing. 

Each time they have a different excuse ad to why they are taking so long but it always has to do with verifying my ID. 

They confirmed 6 days ago that they have what they need, yet they received your email this morning and sent me another email stating that they need my documents to verify my ID. Which they said a week ago they have and are processing : Venmo, XXXX, XXXX XXXX put on notice after claims payment apps leave consumers vulnerable to fraud XXXX XXXX XXXX logo Wednesday, XX/XX/2024 XXXX Payment app warning after XXXX XXXX says consumers vulnerable to fraud Venmo, XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX are leaving consumers vulnerable to fraud, XXXX XXXX Attorney XXXX XXXX alleged. 
XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX -- Venmo, XXXX and XXXX XXXX  are leaving consumers vulnerable to fraud that's " draining bank accounts of significant sums of money, '' XXXX XXXX Attorney XXXX XXXX said in letters to the companies that own those financial apps. He demanded they increase protections. 

XXXX 's letters said he was writing " in response to a growing number of incidents '' involving fraud and theft " through the exploitation of your company 's mobile financial applications on personal electronic devices such as iPhones. '' Peer-to-peer payment services now handle an estimated {$1.00} XXXX in payments and the district attorney said " frauds and scams have proliferated '' as usage climbs. 

In the past year, there have been thefts stretching from XXXX XXXX, where several people were robbed of thousands of dollars through Venmo at knifepoint, to XXXX, where a woman had thousands drained from her Venmo after a child asked to use her phone. Similar thefts and robberies have been publicly reported in West Virginia, Louisiana, Illinois, Kansas, Tennessee, Virginia and elsewhere across the United States. 

" These crimes involve an unauthorized user gaining access to unlocked devices and then draining bank accounts of significant sums of money, making purchases with mobile financial applications, and using financial information from the applications to open new accounts, '' XXXX 's letters said. " Offenders also take over the phone 's security by changing passwords, recovery accounts, and application settings. The ease with which offenders can collect five- and even six-figure windfalls in a matter of minutes is incentivizing a large number of individuals to commit these crimes, which are creating serious financial, and in some cases physical, harm to our residents. '' The district attorney called on Venmo, XXXX and XXXX XXXX to adopt additional security measures, including imposing limits on transactions, requiring secondary verification of up to a day and better monitoring of unusual activity. 

" I am concerned about the troubling rise in illegal behavior that has developed because of insufficient security measures connected with your software and business policy decisions, '' XXXX 's letters said. 

He is requesting meetings with the companies. 

XXXX XXXX, the owner of XXXX XXXX and Paypal, the owner of Venmo, did not immediately respond to XXXX XXXX ' request for comment. 

Reacting to the XXXX XXXX 's comments, a spokesperson for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, the network operator of XXXX, said the company was " aware of isolated criminal incidents described in the XXXX XXXX Attorney 's letter. 


" Providing a safe and reliable service to consumers is the top priority of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, the network operator of XXXX, and our XXXX participating banks and credit unions, '' the statement continued. " As a result of our continued efforts to build on XXXX 's strong foundation of security, less than one tenth of one percent of transactions are reported as fraud or scams, and that percentage keeps getting smaller. '' In the statement, the spokesperson said its network 's " participating financial institutions are required to reimburse consumers for confirmed fraud claims. Consumers should contact the local authorities and their bank and credit unioXXXX if they were a victim of a crime to begin the claims process. '' Report A Correction Or Typo Copyright 2024 XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
Related Topics PERSONAL FINANCE NEW YORK XXXX XXXX & XXXX APP CONSUMER CONSUMER CONCERNS by TaboolaPromoted Links FROM THE WEB You have an update from Venmo : Venmo Help You have a new message from Venmo regarding request # XXXX. To respond, simply reply to this email. 

Hello XXXX, XXXX here with Venmo support, following up per my colleague. Thank you for reaching out about the requested documents being submitted. I will provide you with information regarding for your case! 

I was able to locate those documents and I do see that the team handling your case has them for review. They will follow up with you via email within XXXX business days from that time. 

I hope this information has helped, XXXX and please reach back out to me if there are any other questions and concerns you may have. Thank you for being a loyal Venmo customer and have a wonderful day. 

Kindly, XXXX H | Venmo Support Venmo is a service of PayPal , Inc., a licensed provider of money transfer services. All money transmission is provided by PayPal , Inc. pursuant to PayPal , Inc.s licenses.

PayPal is located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX [ XXXX ] Now today : XXXX You have an update from Venmo XXXX XXXX ( Team Venmo ) Venmo Help You have a new message from Venmo regarding request # XXXX. To respond, simply reply to this email. 

Hello XXXX, Thank you for contacting us. 

Your account has been frozen because we need to verify that you are the owner of this account. To help us with this verification, please use our Document Upload Form, linked below, to send in the following : A recent monthly statement for the card ending in XXXX. 

You can find our Document Upload Form here : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX & XXXX ( If you have trouble following this link, try copying it and pasting it into your browser. ) We need to see your ID in full, but feel free to cover any sensitive information on your other documents before you send them to us. We only need to see the last four digits of the account number, the date, and your full name. 

If you do not have a statement for your debit card, the bank statement is plenty. Simply leave the last XXXX digits of your debit card number visible in the transaction section of the statement. 

For your privacy and security, please do not reply back to this email with your documents. Once you submit your information through the above link, we will review your case and reply with more information regarding your account. 

We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to hearing back from you. 
XXXX XXXX. 
Account Specialist | Venmo And then strangely and ironically right after receiving this : Venmo, XXXX, XXXX XXXX put on notice after claims payment apps leave consumers vulnerable to fraud XXXX XXXX XXXX logo Wednesday, XX/XX/2024 XXXX Payment app warning after XXXX XXXX says consumers vulnerable to fraud Venmo, XXXX XXXX and Cash App are leaving consumers vulnerable to fraud, XXXX XXXX Attorney XXXX XXXX alleged. 
XXXX NEW YORK XXXX -- Venmo, XXXX and Cash App are leaving consumers vulnerable to fraud that's " draining bank accounts of significant sums of money, '' XXXX XXXX Attorney XXXX XXXX said in letters to the companies that own those financial apps. He demanded they increase protections. 

XXXX 's letters said he was writing " in response to a growing number of incidents '' involving fraud and theft " through the exploitation of your company 's mobile financial applications on personal electronic devices such as iPhones. '' Peer-to-peer payment services now handle an estimated {$1.00} XXXX in payments and the district attorney said " frauds and scams have proliferated '' as usage climbs. 

In the past year, there have been thefts stretching from XXXX XXXX, where several people were robbed of thousands of dollars through Venmo at knifepoint, to XXXX, where a woman had thousands drained from her Venmo after a child asked to use her phone. Similar thefts and robberies have been publicly reported in West Virginia, Louisiana, Illinois, Kansas, Tennessee, Virginia and elsewhere across the United States. 

" These crimes involve an unauthorized user gaining access to unlocked devices and then draining bank accounts of significant sums of money, making purchases with mobile financial applications, and using financial information from the applications to open new accounts, '' XXXX 's letters said. " Offenders also take over the phone 's security by changing passwords, recovery accounts, and application settings. The ease with which offenders can collect five- and even six-figure windfalls in a matter of minutes is incentivizing a large number of individuals to commit these crimes, which are creating serious financial, and in some cases physical, harm to our residents. '' The district attorney called on Venmo, XXXX and XXXX XXXX to adopt additional security measures, including imposing limits on transactions, requiring secondary verification of up to a day and better monitoring of unusual activity. 

" I am concerned about the troubling rise in illegal behavior that has developed because of insufficient security measures connected with your software and business policy decisions, '' XXXX 's letters said. 

He is requesting meetings with the companies. 

XXXX XXXX, the owner of XXXX XXXX and Paypal, the owner of Venmo, did not immediately respond to XXXX XXXX ' request for comment. 

Reacting to the XXXX XXXX 's comments, a spokesperson for XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, the network operator of XXXX, said the company was " aware of isolated criminal incidents described in the XXXX XXXX Attorney 's letter. 


" Providing a safe and reliable service to consumers is the top priority of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, the network operator of XXXX, and our XXXX participating banks and credit unions, '' the statement continued. " As a result of our continued efforts to build on XXXX 's strong foundation of security, less than one tenth of one percent of transactions are reported as fraud or scams, and that percentage keeps getting smaller. '' In the statement, the spokesperson said its network 's " participating financial institutions are required to reimburse consumers for confirmed fraud claims. Consumers should contact the local authorities and their bank and credit union if they were a victim of a crime to begin the claims process. '' Report A Correction Or Typo Copyright 2024 XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
Related Topics PERSONAL FINANCE NEW YORK XXXX XXXX & XXXX APP CONSUMER CONSUMER CONCERNS by TaboolaPromoted Links FROM THE WEB

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation