Venmo Scam - Be Aware!

My wife who occasionally sells on FB Marketplace has a bunch of old costumes from the kids and they didn't want them. So since they were perfectly good, My wife list them in an real cheap. Just wanting them to get used by someone with little kids.

A man contacted her from California and wanted to buy them all. She gave him the total which was $55 including the shipping. The guy only had Venmo, so I went ahead and opened a Venmo account, it's owned by PayPal whom we already do business through. He sent $1,300 [first red flag]. The shipping was $13. so my wife thought he missed a decimal point, contacted him and he said it's ok don't worry about it [second red flag].

I did a quick search ad found a recent wave of people on Venmo sending way to much money for a transaction, while using a stolen CC, then as soon as the amount is sent they remove the stolen card from their account and replace it with a non-attributable prepaid debit card or Venmo account. They then ask the seller to send them a refund for the over-payment. The refund is credited to their legit payment method, which they immediately cash out and they are gone.

So the seller hasn't lost any money but they unknowingly helped a criminal launder cash from a stolen CC. They are then on the hook for the cost of the merchandise and shipping which was paid for with a stolen CC.

There are also cases of a forged email, from Venmo showing receipt of the large sum of money when no transaction had actually taken place. In which case the seller has bee defrauded of the amount in question.

Important point: Venmo does not deposit the cash into your account until they receive verifiable shipping tracking information.

So if you have a Venmo account and a transaction doesn't feel right:
- First check the actual email header to see where it was sent from. (not just the from line on the email)
- Second don't send the parcel or upload tracking information until you are sure the transaction is legit. If you do, Venmo puts the cash into your account, then your are involved and getting things straight may be difficult.

My wife always defers such matters to me as soon as something seems off.

'caveat venditor'

Thank you for the alert!

I hadn't heard that one before, thanks for the heads up!

That's eerily similar to the check fraud scam that has been around for awhile. In that, they send you a cashier's check for way too much money.

Of course the check is fake, but good enough to fool many bank tellers. So if you actually cash it, the fraudster asks for a refund. You refund them payment. Then the bank figures out the check is fake and you are on the hook for it.

The venmo deal in this thread appears to be the e-payment version of the above.

A good heads-up - there are many variations of this scam - yes, a key red flag is if the customer overpays by a significant amount, and wants the difference credited back. Ordinary people don't overpay by hundreds of dollars. There's a useful subreddit r/Scams on the current scams out there for those who use reddit.

So much of this stuff going on. Time to empty the trash.

Great informational post!

Also it may take 30-60 days for the bank which issued the stolen credit card to claw back the money from the unwitting seller. If one is selling to make ends met in this current pandemic economy, that claw back may come at an inconvenient time (after the money is spent), and the bank has great power here.

Thanks for the informative post.

Sad ,event but that is the world we live in . If your in business and trying to run a honest business you will always get hit with this kind of scam . Usually it is better at the first sign of a problem is to stop all contact with those on the first red flag .

I run a small business, one employee ....floortrader you are absolutely correct.
The other issue is lawsuits... The world we live in.
Cheers