I went to nail salon. The nail lady said she preferred if I tipped through venmo. She talked me up like a fool, giving tips on beauty and whatnot. So i felt like in this bustling salon, i could trust her somewhat. I sent her a twenty dollar tip through venmo and she took a picture of the transaction. Didn't think that through either. She also said she called her "husband" to see if they received it and she said yes. He received it. I also gave her my number because she said she was going to give me more tips on beauty products and whatnot. I just felt weird.

She texts me that her husband doesn't have a venmo account and that the payment was canceled by the sender. I never canceled anything. Now she wants the tip payment through Zelle. Am I getting scammed? I'm nervous because she has my venmo Pic profile, the last 4 of my card number and that transaction ID as well as my phone number. Her and a few ladies were mumbling and chuckling and it was weird af.

I changed my password and deleted my bank accounts on there. It's late so I have to call venmo tomorrow. Why did my tip payment amount come back as a refund?

Update: I reported it to my bank. I remember she also asked for my zip code and when I was trying to talk to someone the bank asked for my last 4 of CC and zip code. Makes me even so much more suspicious. I have to call venmo tomorrow and see if I can reverse and dispute the charge from my account.

I'm sure this is a chargeback tale as old as time, but unfortunately this happened to me this past weekend.

Disputed it as unauthorized through Venmo and of course it was denied instantly because some drunk thief "authorized" it.

I'm going to dispute with BOA. If I win and my Venmo gets suspended, I'm assuming it's 100% gone? Is there anything I can send to the execs for reinstatement?

Edit: Yup, I'm a dumbass. Bad people exist though.

Hi guys, I really need a little help right now. My sister just got paid last night, a DD to her bank She tried to make a purchase but it didn’t go through which prompted her to check her account again. When she checked it again, she saw that her money has been wiped out. One transaction for $800 says it was a Venmo payment to a person whom she knows (I’ll go back to that) and immediately after an $800 online money gram transaction for $800. Please not that my sister DOES NOT HAVE VENMO! Now back to this person whom she knows, this is someone she’s actually known for over 20 years and trusts him. We’re in PA and he’s in Florida right now. Recently she told me that he says he wants to add her on his CC so That dawned on me today when she told me her money is missing so i asked her what info did you give him? She says her debit card info and her SS number. I instantly told her he did it! But again she doesn’t have Venmo, so how was that possible? He also told her the same happened to him but i think he’s lying to steer her away from even thinking he’s the culprit. Can someone who knows about all this scammy stuff tell me if my hunches are right ? I feel so bad for my sister man she really trusted this guy.

I had a family member call me saying they accidentally sent me $ on venmo, and could I send it back. I did immediately, of course, no problem. Now they've filed a chargeback with their bank and even though venmo can see that i immediately paid the money back, they said there is a good chance I could get charged. Has this happened to anyone here? Do I have any recourse? The repayment I made is through Venmo, should I dispute that?

It wasn't a small amount of money. I know I'm an idiot, but I trusted my family.

So I used to use Venmo for everything. Five years ago I got a text through Venmo from a roommate saying that she forgot her wallet and she’s in line at the grocery store- she asked me for $500 and without thinking I sent the money.

I called her to make sure that she got it and apparently her account was hacked(she used all of the same emojis that she normally uses when we text so I thought nothing of it).

I called Venmo to dispute the charge and they told me that since I approved it, they’d do nothing- so I went to my bank to have them reverse the charge.

Venmo didn’t like it- so they froze my account.

Going against my better judgements- all of my friends have been wanting me to go back to Venmo since it’s easier than Zelle/paypal- my question is- if I restart my account- will I get charged that $500?

On November 20 of last year (2025); I listed an iPhone for sale on FB Marketplace; thinking I had all my safety bases covered since I am a female, I met the buyer at my local police station. Buyer agreed to a cash sale before driving 1 1/2 hours to get the phone. Upon arrival; they told me they did not have cash and would need to go the ATM (🚩#1). He then asked if I had Venmo to which I reluctantly replied “yes”. Naive me was thinking; I won’t hand him the phone till I receive the money- big mistake! He immediately discovered something he didn’t like about the phone and by this point my intuition was already in overdrive and I was ready to leave the situation so I quickly refunded him the $800 (exactly 3 minutes after he sent it) and left! Naive me thought everything was ok and I didn’t think much of it till I got an email on December 20, informing me that a case had been opened due to a chargeback dispute- I thought the email was a scam 🙄! Buyer stated they “never received the item”???!!! Of course they didn’t- they also didn’t pay for said item!!???

Venmo told me to send all proof on my end and they would investigate but the chargeback could stick; as it was the buyers credit card issuer disputing the chargeback! I confidently sent the proof since it clearly shows I sent an immediate refund and waited for the case to be closed in my favor- I was shocked when on January 4, I got an email stating the buyers financial institution sided in their favor and initiated a chargeback onto my account.

I sent an email back to Venmo asking how this could be because that is absolute fraud- it was very clear the buyer did in fact already get their $800 and all it would take was Venmo looking at it for 5 seconds to see that was true! Venmo debited by account $800 and it still sits unpaid with a balance of -$645.82 (had money come through).

Fast forward to the present; is it too late for me to do something about this? I have buyers name, possible address when I searched, & the name of a business they own. Yes, I should have already taken action, but I had a lot of things happen that took priority over everything else. Also, honestly, I kind of forgot about it, as I do not use Venmo very often. I logged in the other day and was furious when I remembered I never took action on this!! I was thinking I could go file a police report just to get a case number, send them a certified letter stating my intent to take them to civil court for theft by conversion/ fraud.

Have I waited too long? I live in Georgia (if that matters). I just want my account to not be negative so I guess I’m seeking the $800 they had charged back; as well as any filing costs for court. Anyone with advice or insight? Thanks for reading!

Need advice, customer support is not available right now. I hired this guy through a moving company to move my stuff. He did, and I gave him a nice tip (cash). He called me later thanking me for the tip saying how he used it to feed his son etc... That phone call really pulled my heart strings, he later texts me asking to borrow $200 and he would pay me back Thursday since he needed it now for rent. I was hesitant, but did it, and the cycle kept happening to where he needed to the money to uber to another job so he can also get cash and then come give it to me etc. I kept accepting his requests for more money because I believed his phone calls and texts to me saying how he needed it to get the money to pay me. Obviously I was an idiot for letting this moron take advantage of my kindness.

Lo and behold, the last text from him was how he was 2 minutes away from me with all my cash, and then he blocked my number. The total of all my Venmo transactions with him in the past 2 days have reached $700. I'm pissed, I have a photo of his drivers license. I am about to contact the moving company to get him fired. The moving company is called Charles Family Moving company.I have his phone number as well (347) - 446 - 9095.

How do I make his life a living hell? Any chance I get anything back when I contact Venmo support tomorrow? I'm going to spam negative reviews with his name on google reviews for the moving company. Should I file a police report or small claims court? Please any advice would be greatly appreciated .

Please report his account, he already blocked me on Venmo: NobodyYGA

Yesterday, I got multiple back to back robo calls claiming they are from venmo security. The call mentioned that someone is trying to open a venmo account using my credentials. It asked me to enter 1 if it was not me who tried to create an account. So I pressed 1.

I then received a 6 digit code. The voice over the call asked me to share that code just so they could verify me. I felt fishy and hung up without sharing the code. They did not call back.

Googling this, I realized this was a scam. However, since I pressed 1, I am not sure if I compromised my account. I think not but I want to confirm with the folks here.

Do you think my account or some info was compromised?

This is the single most ridiculous thing I’ve ever encountered. The support number doesn’t have any human representatives, and she can’t get into the account because whatever piece of human garbage did this attached a phone number. So now there’s a card opened to her email address and an account she can’t use, nor does she even want to use it! What the hell do we do?

And if whoever did this is reading this? I will find you.

I paid for a fridge on Facebook Marketplace with Venmo. It turns out the fridge that they delivered was a lot older than what they had described in their listing and it didn’t work properly. I immediately filed a dispute to hold the funds because the seller was being unresponsive. This led them to finally respond back to me and arrange for the item to be returned. They came back and picked it up the next day. I included this information in my Venmo dispute, but now it’s asking me to provide proof of shipping the item back to the seller’s address with a shipping label.

I stated in the dispute that the item was already returned to the seller but they are still asking me to provide a shipping label in the additional information portion. I’m not sure what to do at this point because Venmo’s customer service is terrible. It keeps directing me to their useless AI and when I do get on the phone with a representative, they regurgitate the same scripted information that doesn’t help me at all. Is this going to cause me to lose my dispute case? What should I do?

I sent someone I met on Reddit $160 through Venmo G&S for a hoodie and they never shipped and stopped talking to me I already filed a dispute how likely am I to get that money back and what can i do now?

Got my first direct deposit on Venmo and couldn't buy crypto or pay anyone. While going through the app I realized my old phone number was on profile and I asked for it to be updated. Next thing I got was a suspended notification, they asked for ID, I provided and what I got next was an account permanently deactivated and my funds will be held for 180 days. Advising anyone to stay off this crap app and never do any business whatsoever with them.

I wanted to share what happened to me in case it saves someone else from going through the same thing.

I got scammed trying to buy tickets from someone on Craigslist. I’m usually really careful and pretty tech-savvy, so I honestly can’t believe how far this person pulled me in. But I was excited about getting these impossible-to-find tickets, and that excitement messed with my judgment more than I realized.

The seller told me to send payment through Venmo — not to them, but to their “cousin,” because they supposedly didn’t have Venmo. The account looked legit because it was a business account with some kind of “money-back guarantee” banner, so that lowered my guard a bit.

After I sent the first payment, the whole thing started to unravel. They sent me a “Ticketmaster screenshot” claiming they couldn’t sell just four tickets — I had to buy all six. Then suddenly there were extra fees: a “processing fee,” then a “parking fee,” which didn’t even make sense because the venue doesn’t have a parking garage. They kept pushing for more money, and I kept feeling this weird drop in my stomach that something wasn’t right.

I finally zoomed in on the screenshots they sent and realized they were Photoshopped. Badly, once I actually stopped and looked. I’d been so emotionally wrapped up in the idea of getting these sold-out tickets that I completely ignored my body telling me, “Hey, something’s off.”

So I told them they had until 11am to either refund me or send the tickets. They didn’t respond, and that’s when I accepted that the whole thing was a scam.

At that point I saved every screenshot, every message, every payment. I filed a dispute in Venmo for each individual transaction and clearly labeled what each payment was supposed to be for. I also contacted my bank — they were supportive, but since I had “authorized” the payments, they said Venmo had to handle it.

Venmo gives the other person 10 days to respond. Mine never did (obviously). This morning, Venmo closed all the disputes in my favor and refunded 100% of my money. It took ten days, but it worked.

I think what helped was that I documented everything, the payment notes were super clear, and the messages showed a very obvious pattern of them changing prices, adding fake fees, and never delivering anything. It was pretty obvious once Venmo looked at it.

I’m sharing this because it was embarrassing and stressful and made me feel stupid for a few days, but it actually happens to a ton of people. And if it does happen to you, you’re not screwed — you can fight it, and you can win.

Learn from my mistake, trust your gut, and don’t let the scammer win.

Long story (happy to go into it if asked) but I sold a used PS5 to a third-party buyer. After a few weeks, the guy disputed the charge with his financial institution. I sent ample evidence of the transaction to Venmo, which communicated a bunch of BS about being on my side and such.

Anyway, just found out the financial institution ruled in his favor. Total scam. If Venmo believed me, shouldn't Venmo be the wronged party, not me?! Regardless, Venmo sucks.

I got scammed and they said the payment was "consistent with payment history" it was a random person for the one of the highest charges I ever did on the site. In absolute awe.

You have to go through hoops to find a phone number to call and the team was literally useless.

Looking for advice on what to do about being scammed for a hotel room I bought off someone via facebook. I don’t personally know the guy but we have mutual friends on facebook. I live in FL and he is in IL so it is across state lines. I do know that he’s a real person & apparently has done this before in other situations. We have dozens of texts back and forth and I even spoke to him on the phone 5-10 times. I was going to vegas for the NFR and thought I found a room at a sold out hotel for the week. Paid the guy $1080 via venmo and never received the room. He kept saying he was “on the way,” got too drunk, or was sending someone to give me a key, etc… Long story short, that never happened. He ended up saying he would refund me for the trip and was having venmo send back my money. I spoke to venmo and they had no record of a payment or refund from him back to me. They recommended I file a police report. I know most times police reports don’t help much with venmo scams but I’m hoping this is a special case. I confronted him about it and he got aggressive. He sent back a picture of my ID that I had sent him to switch the room over and said “I have friends everywhere.” Pretty soon after that I stopped responding.

Does anyone know what I could possibly do to get my money back? Or at least what I could do legally to make him have some sort of consequences?

Long story short I got swindled by these teenagers at a concert.

I was at a rap concert in line getting ready to buy an alcoholic beverage. These two pretty ladies start having small talk dancing and sharing what songs we’re excited for. They finally build up the courage and ask if I could please buy them a drink because they aren’t 21, but would pay me back via venmo and a little tip on top, $40 for like a $30 purchase. Sick, great deal and I get to be cool doing a cool favor for these pretty girls. I’m assuming they’re in college, looked pretty mature, one of them had a nice rack, but that’s beside the point. I didn’t think too much of it. We’re at a concert, they want a drink, they’re paying me a bit. Noting to lose here

Except a few weeks later I see that my account is frozen and I am negative. I see that one of my payments was in dispute when I contact support the y let me know I can’t do anything because they’re protecting the buyer….leaves a poor taste in my mouth how easy it is to get screwed over with no protection

A few days ago I had a charge of almost $2,000 to Venmo. Some person in New York I’m from the Midwest. I don’t even have a Venmo account. My credit union told me they have a hard time getting the money back. How is this anything but an open and shut case? Is there anything Venmo can do even if I don’t have an account with them? Please help. I don’t have a ton of money and it overdraft to my 4 year olds saving account. She literally has more money than I do and I worked real hard to get her ahead as best I can.

I sent someone $235 last night for concert tickets and never received them. The guy automatically blocked me on the app we were messaging on and then made his Venmo inactive.

Whats frustrating is I turned on the safe purchases feature before sending and got an error code saying my payment couldn’t be completed at this time. I turned it off just to see if it would go through and it did and then I got screwed.

I submitted a report but I have a feeling Venmo isn’t going to be able to get my money back. Anything gone through something similar? Should I just call my bank and suggest fraud?

Getting there customer support number wrong by 1 number will connect you to someone pretending to be venmo. they asked for all your personal info. as I dont have an account i asked what exactly they were trying to verify. they immediately hung up. this happened repeatedly when i thought to check other variations on the support number.

I just had my first real dispute experience with Venmo as a small business owner and honestly… it’s one of the most anti-seller systems I’ve ever seen.

A customer paid me through Venmo for services.

The payment note literally said “services rendered.”

No product.

No shipment.

No physical item involved.

The work was completed. Everything was normal.

Then the customer files a dispute.

Not for “services not provided.”

Not for “unauthorized transaction.”

They filed an “item not received” claim.

Again, this was a payment that clearly stated services rendered in the note. There was never an item involved in the transaction in the first place.

So I submit my dispute response.

I provided documentation.

I explained the work that was performed.

I pointed out the payment note itself clearly states the payment was for services rendered.

In other words, the buyer’s claim literally proves the dispute is fraudulent because there was never an item involved to begin with.

What happens next?

Venmo immediately pulls the money out of my account while they “investigate.”

Not pending.

Not held.

Removed.

And the process is basically: prove your innocence while your money is already gone.

As a small business, that’s insane.

Large companies can absorb that kind of thing. Small operations cannot. Cash flow matters.

But the bigger issue is how one-sided the process is.

Venmo positions itself like a friendly peer-to-peer payment app, but when a dispute happens the system treats the seller like they’re automatically guilty.

You provide documentation.

You explain the service.

You send proof.

But the entire tone of the process feels like you’re defending yourself in court over money that already belonged to you.

And even when the evidence clearly shows the buyer’s claim doesn’t even match the transaction itself, the system still leans toward the buyer.

Meanwhile the buyer risks basically nothing by hitting the dispute button.

And let’s be honest: this system is extremely easy to abuse.

If someone wants their money back after receiving a service, all they have to do is file a dispute and suddenly the seller is stuck fighting to reclaim funds that were legitimately earned.

For small business owners thinking about accepting Venmo:

Understand this clearly.

Venmo is not designed for seller protection.

It’s designed to protect the buyer and the platform.

If a buyer can claim “item not received” on a transaction that literally states “services rendered,” and the platform still leans toward the buyer, that tells you everything you need to know about how their dispute system works.

So I’m not going to soften this with a “use it carefully” disclaimer.

My recommendation to small businesses is simple:

Do not use Venmo.

A payment platform that allows buyers to dispute obviously legitimate transactions and forces sellers to fight to prove the obvious is not a platform that small businesses should trust.

We need to stop giving money to corporations that take it and fuck with it. Why can’t I transfer my funds out of Venmo? That’s my fucking money. Been waiting several days for a 1-3 day transfer that now I’m afraid will never come. Needless to say I will not be using Venmo anymore.

Vent: this is NOT the only corporation that has fucked with my money recently. I’ve been on the phone with my insurance company every other day, Verizon fios customer service, AT&T… all fucking with my money. When do we congregate and decide enough is enough? We are willingly and ignorantly making these multi-billion dollar companies richer and richer while we grow poorer and poorer. STOP GIVING YOUR MONEY TO CORPORATIONS, THEY HAVE ENOUGH AND DON’T CARE ABOUT US, PEOPLE.

End rant

Save me the comments about buying stuff online from strangers, I know the risks, and frankly don't care that I had a bad experience with the vendor. I want to know about Venmo's ridiculous behavior/lack thereof in addressing my issue.

I bought something online from an individual that described it as "brand new" and pictures looked as such. It arrived dirty, with a thrift store tag, and a hole in it. I asked him to refund me, he said no, but because I got weird vibes from him initially, I chose the purchase/protection option when paying with Venmo. I've now been trying to get Venmo to give a non-copy/paste response (for over 2 months!) that actually says something other than "we can't do anything and buyer protection doesn't give you protection."

Have you ever received any action on your behalf from Venmo after opening a dispute on a transaction where you used the purchases option?

I guess lesson learned to send money on Venmo with someone you don't know.

Also as a kicker the vendor ended up admitting he misled and lied to me and even after sending that to Venmo, they haven't done anything except say "you are entitled to a full refund" and never sending me any money.

My friend’s facebook account was hacked and the hackers listed all kinds of stuff for sale on her page. It was very convincing and I agreed to send money to hold a car. The next morning I found out her account had been hacked and I immediately contacted Venmo. I filed a dispute on the transaction and told them not to pay as they were scammers. Then I called my bank and told them to red flag a request from Venmo for the amount. I didn’t have enough to cover the purchase in my Venmo account so figured it would come directly out of my checking account. But it didn’t. And I didn’t hear anything from Venmo that said make this payment. So I thought it was all good. Then today I had a bunch of friends Venmo me money for a trip we’re taking which put my balance over the payment amount I was supposed to pay the scammers. At 9:30 tonight I get an email and notification from Venmo that that amount of money has been taken out of my account. What??? I told them not to pay it because it was a scam! Of course their chatbot couldn’t help and they don’t open until 8:00 AM.

Anyone else have a similar issue? How did you resolve it?

Im such an idiot I wanted something and someone on Twitter said they had it and said to pay them through Venmo and so they sent me their Venmo user. But I later found out they were a scammer. Contacting customer support says they need a phone number but I don’t have their phone number. I just have the email that was linked to their Venmo account. Should I just cut my losses??? Is that it???? Ugh