Are Venmo accounts protected from fraud?

Online scams are becoming increasingly prevalent especially for venmo. The company sauce a significant increase in fraud and in an attempt to stop it, instituted what they thought were stricter fraudulent protection measures that ended up blacklisting users who were perfectly legitimate, and preventing them from sending or receiving money when they needed it most. And customers are very upset.

So what can you do if you have seen a fraudulent venmo account opened in your name or you have seen fraudulent activity on your account? More importantly, what can you do when venmo won’t act? We explain what steps to take. 

Tired of talking in circles with customer service? File an official claim instead:

Are checking accounts protected from fraud?

Checking accounts come standard with fraud protection as part of Federal Reserve Regulation E. It is up to you to report fraud immediately. The sooner you report it, the more likely it is that this law will require your bank to reimburse you for the unauthorized transactions.

Does Venmo reimburse stolen money?

Generally speaking you need to report the fraud as soon as you see it. If you report it within 2 days, you aren’t liable for more than $50. But if you wait 60 days to report fraud, you might have to pay for more than that, up to $500 more. If you wait over a year, chances are banks won’t reimburse you.

Lost funds to scammers? Get Venmo to act:

Contact Venmo for fraud

When you see fraud, report it immediately. 

Venmo says to email them at support@venmo.com or chat with them directly through the mobile app to report fraud. 

You are not responsible for charges if your card number associated with your bank account or your credit card account are stolen but if there are unauthorized charges, the Fair Credit billing Act says you are at worst responsible for $50.

It is recommended that in addition to reporting the information to your financial institution, you report any fraud to the Federal Trade Commission.

Do banks really investigate fraud?

Yes, they really do. It’s better for them and it’s better for you as the customer to follow up on fraud charges because it will help them find what type of fraud took place and if it was legitimate fraud, who was responsible.

However, not all customers have a positive experience, let alone an actual investigation. One customer explained, “I was a victim of a scammer on 4/20 at 10:07am on Venmo-the person made a fake account of my sister and I completed the payment request of $400 thinking it was my sister-and I immediately (within 5 minutes of transaction) called and reported it to Venmo. I also called my bank and stopped the payment from leaving my bank to the scam account. On 4/23, I was informed by Venmo that the scammer was paid through Venmo because my bank had stopped the payment, and my Venmo account is now frozen. Venmo is requiring that I pay back the fraudulent $400, in spite of me reporting fraud and doing everything on my end, and is freezing my account until I pay. I filed multiple Venmo complaints and a police report (which was approved) as per Venmo suggestion.”

Related: How to Spot and Report Illegal and Unfair Banking

What can a scammer do with my bank account number?

If a scammer gets a hold of your venmo account, it can be a big problem given that you might have more than one bank account or credit card or debit card link to your venmo. In this situation, it cannot only cause problems with your venmo but they can take your bank account number after that and send themselves all your money, drain your account after ordering checks in your name, and even transfer money periodically until such time as you report it.

What to Do If They Won’t Help

If you’ve done all of this and you still aren’t getting a response from Venmo, or your claim has been denied, there are other ways. At FairShake  we can help you with consumer arbitration, an alternative to get the money back.