8 Common Venmo Scams and How to Avoid Them

While Venmo is a fact of daily life for many Americans, it’s also what makes the payment app a potentially lucrative target for scammers. Whether you’re new to the app or just concerned about staying safe, here’s a guide to some of the more common Venmo scams, and how to protect yourself from them.

1. Fake lotteries and other prizes

In this scheme, you will usually be contacted by email or a text message, claiming that you have won money from Venmo or another organization. Regardless, you’ll be asked to provide information about your Venmo account, and/or tap a link that takes you to a fake login page. If you fall for this, your account will be hijacked, and the scammer will likely use it to transfer money or make purchases.

In fact, no company offers these kinds of gifts through Venmo, not even Venmo itself. You can also identify a scam by the URLs (web addresses) associated with an email or text – anything legitimate will point you to a page at venmo.com, not a site that happens to have Venmo in its name not.

Never share your account information beyond logging into Venmo, or communicating (privately!) with the service’s official social media channels, such as @VenmoSupport on X/Twitter.

2. Calls or texts pretending to be Venmo

This scam can take a variety of forms, but the usual template is that you’ll be contacted by someone who claims they need to provide you with login information and/or a one-time multi-factor authentication (MFA) code. They will explain that it is necessary to verify your account and/or recent transactions, but what they are really doing is attempting a hijack. A variant of the scam is that instead of asking for login details, they will ask you to “verify” yourself by sending money to another Venmo account.

The right company won’t ask you to share login information outside of the app or its social media channels, let alone payments. Similarly, support staff will never ask you for a multi-factor authentication code – you just have to enter it directly during a login attempt. If you get an MFA request out of the blue, you should change your login credentials immediately.

3. Outside technical support scams

This one involves tricking you into contacting a fake tech support line, likely posing as a big tech firm like Google or Microsoft. Early in your call or chat session, they’ll ask for a Venmo payment — but after they get your cash, they won’t keep up the facade much longer.

To avoid this, always go directly to a company’s website for technical support. Also remember that in most cases legitimate companies do not charge extra for phone or chat support, as the good will is to keep you buying their primary products.

4. Sales scams

A threat on any payment platform is that someone will try to sell you something, or buy something from you, but at the end of the transaction. To trick you, scammers may even provide fake screenshots that “prove” they issued a Venmo payment or shipped a product. If you sell, they may say that money will be automatically deposited after you share shipping information, but Venmo doesn’t actually work that way. Another possibility is that they use a stolen card or bank account, in which case the money may disappear once the rightful owner reports the fraud.

All you can really do is be aware of how this type of scam operates and limit your Venmo transactions to people and businesses you trust, usually ones you’ve personally encountered. There are safer ways to shop online – at least eBay lets you check a user’s reputation. If you’re going to buy with Venmo, make sure there’s an “Eligible items covered by Purchase Protection” label under a checkout button.

5. Friends and family imitations

By stealing photos and other public content, a scammer may be able to build enough of an Internet profile to convince you that they are a friend or family member. They will then come up with an excuse to request money, such as a medical emergency, or else say they “accidentally” sent you cash and need it back. In the latter case, they are probably using a hijacked credit card or bank account.

You can usually avoid this by making sure a person’s profile matches what you’re familiar with, especially when it comes to spelling and usernames. Scammers also tend to be unusually aggressive, as they have no reason for small talk, and their pretense can collapse quite quickly. If you’re still in doubt, try asking about a deal in a phone call using the contact information you’re used to instead of anything new.

Once you’ve identified a scammer, make sure to block them, then limit the privacy settings for your friends list and transaction history. This could be how the scammer figured out who to impersonate.

6. “Accidental” payments from strangers

As with some friend and family scams, a stranger may message you out of nowhere to say they accidentally sent you money but need it. To make a profit, a scammer will use a stolen credit card or bank account for the amount they initially sent.

There is not much more to add here except that you should never trust these kinds of requests. It’s intentionally difficult to accidentally send money to someone on Venmo. Indeed, you should report any unsolicited transactions immediately.

While it is possible to make an honest fortune through the likes of cryptocurrency or the stock market, anyone who promises a huge profit after providing a small investment via Venmo is probably trying to scam you. They will take the money and run, or at best let you get wrapped up in a pyramid scheme.

Any serious investment opportunity is going to come through a trusted platform and involve more traditional payment methods, unless you may be paying directly in crypto. Whatever the situation, always do your research on a product and the people offering it, as well as the potential risk. Bitcoin in particular is volatile, so you could be out thousands of dollars or more if the market turns south.

8. Romance/catfishing and prostitution scams

Let’s get this out of the way – whether prostitution is legal where you live or not, you should never accept offers of sex from online strangers who want payment via Venmo. It’s almost certainly cheating, exploiting your hormones and loneliness. In a prostitution context, Venmo should only be considered personally.

A romance/catfishing scam can actually be more insidious. This is a long con where a scammer flirts with you and slowly builds up the impression of a relationship without actually meeting in person. Once they gain your trust, they will make up a reason for you to send money, such as rent, a family emergency, or a visa. They can shut up once they have this initial cash, but they can also steer you until you realize what’s going on.

Even intelligent people can sometimes fall for romance scams, but skepticism is your ally here. It is very unlikely that a love interest will materialize outside of dating apps or real life connections. In any case, you shouldn’t become emotionally invested in someone until you’ve had a chance to meet them in person, or at least take a video call. A refusal to do so is a bad sign. You should also check an interest’s social media profiles, as a scammer tends to have few friends or publicly shared details, and their photos are usually stolen. Use a reverse image search tool like TinEye to check this.

Does Venmo refund money if I get scammed?

Usually no, and there’s no way for you to quickly cancel and reverse a payment unless it’s still pending.

The main exception for refunds is buying something with Venmo’s Purchase Protection, which covers you when an item is damaged, missing, or otherwise not what you paid for. However, it’s important to look for the “Eligible items covered by Purchase Protection” label when shopping, and only sellers with business accounts will display it.

A refund may be possible under other circumstances, but do not assume that you will get your money back.

First, stop communicating with the scammer, but capture as many related screenshots as possible for evidence. This will help you remember important details and strengthen your case with Venmo and/or the police (more on both in a moment).

The next step is to submit a support ticket. Venmo is actually better at this than many companies, as you can provide all the relevant details in one shot, including screenshots (up to a 50MB limit). Be sure to mention the username of the scammer, as well as the date and amount of money involved. Only things bought with purchase protection are likely to get a direct refund.

We say direct because you may also be able to dispute a charge with your bank. The process may take some time, but if you’ve lost a significant amount of cash, it may be worth it. Gather as much documentation as you can.

If you haven’t already, you’ll want to block the scammer. Find their profile, then tap the three-dot icon and select Block. You may also want to tighten up your privacy settings and change your login credentials, especially if the scammer tried to get you to share a one-time login code. This means they already had other essential login details.

Finally, if the scam was serious enough, you should file a report with the local police. They may not be able to do anything if there is no way to personally identify the suspect, or if the person lives overseas, but at least you will put the scam on their radar and establish a history. You’re probably not a scammer’s only victim, and their luck may run out sooner rather than later.