Venmo

File:Pay with venmo.png

{{External links|section|date=March 2025}}

Venmo was founded by Andrew Kortina and Iqram Magdon-Ismail, who met as freshman roommates at the University of Pennsylvania. According to Kortina, the duo were initially inspired to create a transaction solution while, in the process of helping start a friend's yogurt shop, they "realized how horrible traditional point of sales software was". At a local jazz show, Kortina and Magdon-Ismail conceived the idea of instantly buying an MP3 of the show via text message. Finally, the idea was cemented when Magdon-Ismail forgot his wallet during a trip to visit Kortina. The process of settling their debt was a considerable inconvenience, especially compared to the possibility of mobile phone-based transactions. Shortly after, they began working on a way to send money through mobile phones.{{cite news | url=https://medium.com/@telgar/venmo-the-wallet-of-the-future-d45900b6811b | title=Venmo. The wallet of the future. | first=Tyler | last=Elgar | work=Medium | date=October 2, 2017}} Their original prototype sent money through text messages, but they eventually transitioned from text messages to a smartphone app.{{cite news | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-11-20/mobile-payment-startup-venmo-is-killing-cash | title=Cash Is for Losers! | last=Gillette | first=Felix | work=Bloomberg Businessweek |date=November 20, 2014}} In fact, according to Kortina, the name Venmo came from the word vendere, Latin for “to sell,” and “Mo,” short for “mobile”; they wanted a name that was snappy and could be spelled easily.{{cite news | url=https://www.ai-bees.io/post/andrew-kortina-how-an-accident-inspired-a-mobile-payment-app | title=Andrew Kortina: How An Accident Inspired a Mobile Payment App | first=Brian | last=Hadi Attarbashi | work=AI Bees}}

In May 2010, the company brought on the Philadelphia Law Firm Morgan Lewis who made sure the Start-up was 100% compliant in every state (the SEC in 2010 was incredibly conservative and text-message payments were technically illegal at the time) the team raised $1.2 million of seed money in a financing round led by RRE Ventures.{{cite news | url=https://techcrunch.com/2010/09/16/venmo-1-2-million-iphone/ | title=Social Payment Startup Venmo Raised $1.2 Million And Has A New iPhone App | first=Erick | last=Schonfeld | work=TechCrunch | date=September 16, 2010}}

In 2012, the company was acquired by Braintree for $26.2 million.{{cite press release | url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120817005685/en/Braintree-Acquires-Mobile-Payments-Platform-Venmo | title=Braintree Acquires Mobile Payments Platform Venmo | publisher=Business Wire | date=August 17, 2012}}{{cite news | url=https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/16/payments-start-up-braintree-buys-venmo-for-26-2-million/ | title=Braintree, a Payments Company, Buys Venmo for $26.2 Million | first=Jenna | last=Wortham | work=The New York Times | date=August 16, 2012}}{{cite news | url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/16/online-payments-service-braintree-acquires-venmo-for-26-2m/ | title=Online Payments Service Braintree Acquires Venmo for $26.2M | first=Frederic | last=Lardinois | work=TechCrunch | date=August 16, 2012}}

In December 2013, PayPal acquired Braintree for $800 million.{{cite press release | url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131219005777/en/eBay-Completes-Acquisition-Global-Payments-Innovator-Braintree | title=eBay Inc. Completes Acquisition of Global Payments Innovator Braintree | publisher=Business Wire | date=December 19, 2013}}{{cite news | url=https://techcrunch.com/2013/09/26/paypal-acquires-payments-gateway-braintree-for-800m-in-cash/ | title=Ebay's Paypal Acquires Payment Gateway Braintree For $800M In Cash | first1=Leena | last1=Rao | first2=Sarah | last2=Perez | work=TechCrunch | date=September 26, 2013}}

Prior to October 2015, Venmo prohibited consumer-to-business transactions on the platform.{{Citation needed|date=May 2021}}

On January 27, 2016, PayPal announced that Venmo was working with select merchants who would accept Venmo as payment. Initial launch partners included Munchery and Gametime.{{cite news |last=Rao |first=Leena | title=You Can Now Use PayPal's Venmo to Pay Merchants |url=http://fortune.com/2016/01/27/venmo-business/ | work=Fortune | date=January 27, 2016}} All merchants that accept PayPal can now accept Venmo.{{cite news | url=http://www.businessinsider.com/venmo-makes-moves-to-monetize-2017-5 | title=Venmo makes moves to monetize | last=Toplin | first=Jaime | work=Business Insider | date=May 1, 2017}} As of May 2018, Venmo's merchant product did not permit "selling goods or services in person";{{cite web|title=Payment Methods: Venmo|url=https://articles.braintreepayments.com/guides/payment-methods/venmo|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514221836/https://articles.braintreepayments.com/guides/payment-methods/venmo|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 14, 2018|website=Braintree Support Articles|access-date=May 14, 2018}} however, research into mobile payment trends among mom-and-pop restaurants in New York City that month revealed a grey market use case in which some Chinese takeouts and food trucks used personal Venmo QR codes to accept payments from customers. This QR payment behavior was similar to that used via Chinese mobile applications WeChat and Alipay within these same establishments.{{cite news|last1=Chester|first1=Ken|title=Can China's 'WeChat Diaspora' Pioneer Mobile Payment in the US?|url=http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1002240/can-chinas-wechat-diaspora-pioneer-mobile-payment-in-the-us%3F|access-date=May 14, 2018|work=Sixth Tone|date=May 10, 2018}}

In October 2020, PayPal announced that Venmo along with PayPal services will allow users to purchase and use cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin in select foreign markets starting in the first half of 2021.{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/paypal-cryptocurrency/paypal-to-allow-cryptocurrency-buying-selling-and-shopping-on-its-network-idINL1N2HB14U/ |first=Anna |last=Irrera |title=PayPal to allow cryptocurrency buying, selling and shopping on its network |work=Reuters |date=2020-10-21 |access-date=2020-11-02 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/21/21527288/paypal-cryptocurrency-support-buy-sell-venmo-bitcoin |title=PayPal and Venmo will offer and accept cryptocurrency for all online payments |work=The Verge |date=2020-10-21 |access-date=2020-11-02 }}

On April 20, 2021, Venmo announced that it was beginning its roll out for the ability to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies using the platform.{{cite news |first=Sarah |last=Perez |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/20/venmo-adds-support-for-buying-holding-and-selling-cryptocurrencies/ |title=Venmo adds support for buying, holding and selling cryptocurrencies |work=TechCrunch |date=2021-04-20 |accessdate=2021-04-20 }} However, only selected users had access to the feature, and it was estimated that the cryptocurrency transfers would become available for the whole userbase only in May 2021.{{cite news |first=Taylor |last=Lyles |url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/20/22392274/venmo-cryptocurrency-support-buy-sell-hold-bitcoin |title=Venmo is adding support for users to buy, store, and sell cryptocurrency |work=The Verge|date=2021-04-20 |accessdate=2021-04-20 }}

Users can create an account via a mobile app or website and provide basic information and bank account information. One must have a valid email address and a US mobile phone number to use Venmo. Recipients of transactions can be found via phone number, Venmo username, or email.

Users have a Venmo balance that is used for their transactions. They can link their bank accounts, debit cards, or credit cards, to their Venmo account; alternatively users can order a Venmo MasterCard and pay through it.{{Cite web|url=https://ameinfo.com/money/banking-finance/venmo-offering-credit-cards-aimed-at-millennials/|title=PayPal's Venmo now offering physical credit cards aimed at millennials|website=ameinfo.com|language=en|access-date=2018-07-03|date=2018-07-02}} Paying with a bank account or debit card is free, but payments via credit card have a 3% fee for each transaction.{{cite web |title=Pricing |url=https://venmo.com/about/fees/ |access-date=2022-01-10 |work=Venmo}} Some credit card providers may charge cash advance fees for Venmo payments.{{cite web |title=Fees & Venmo |url=https://help.venmo.com/hc/en-us/articles/224361007-Fees-Venmo |access-date=2022-01-10 |work=Venmo}} If a user does not have enough funds in the account when making a transaction, it will automatically withdraw the necessary funds from the registered bank account or card.

When users first create an account, total transactions may not exceed $299.99 until the user's identity is verified.{{cite web |url=http://lifehacker.com/money-transfer-showdown-square-cash-vs-venmo-vs-payp-1752058723 | title=Money Transfer Showdown: Square Cash vs. Venmo vs. PayPal | last=Allan | first=Patrick | date=January 11, 2016}} After the identity has been verified, users may send up to $2,999.99 in each seven day period.{{cite web | url=https://help.venmo.com/hc/en-us/articles/221010968-Payment-Limits | title=Payment Limits | work=Venmo| date=September 6, 2023 }}

Since 2008, cash transfers using Venmo have not been instantaneous and could be canceled after an initial transfer is sent. Like traditional wire transfers, they can take one to three business days to become final.

In January 2018,{{cite web |url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/26/16936626/venmo-instant-transfer-paypal-payment-app |title=Venmo can now instantly transfer money to your debit card for 25 cents |work=The Verge |date=January 26, 2018 |first=Natt |last=Garun |access-date=September 8, 2018}} PayPal rolled out an instant transfer feature on Venmo, allowing users to deposit funds to their debit cards typically within 30 minutes. A fee is deducted from the amount for each transfer; 1% or $10, whichever is less. The standard bank transfer (typically completed within three business days) is available for no fee.{{cite web |url=https://help.venmo.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015844068-Instant-Transfers-FAQ |title=Instant Transfers FAQ |publisher=Venmo|date=November 19, 2018 |website=help.venmo.com |access-date=November 19, 2018}}

In 2018, Venmo released a new physical debit card available for users.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/25/17501074/venmo-debit-card-mastercard-now-available|title=Venmo is officially launching its physical debit card|last=Welch|first=Chris|date=June 25, 2018|website=The Verge|access-date=2018-12-13}} The card runs on the MasterCard network and offers ATM access and overdraft protection. It can be used anywhere that accepts MasterCard, and it enables up to $400 in daily ATM withdrawals, though transactions at non-MoneyPass ATMs come with at least $2.50 in withdrawal fees.

In addition, the service offers a reload function, which, when enabled, takes money from a user's linked checking account in $10 increments if their Venmo balance drops too low to cover a purchase. Customers could be subject to fees or other consequences from their bank if they overdraft that account. Card purchases show up in a user's Venmo transaction history, and the card can be canceled from within the app.{{Cite web |first=Christina |last=Bonnington |url=https://www.dailydot.com/debug/venmo-card/|title=Everything you need to know about the new Venmo card|date=2018-06-25|website=The Daily Dot|language=en|access-date=2018-12-13}} These features make the card similar to a traditional bank debit card, but adds the ability to directly track spending in-app.

File:Venmo payment newsfeed.jpg

Venmo includes social networking interaction; it was created so friends could quickly split bills, such as for movies, dinner, rent, or tickets. When a user makes a payment, the transaction details (excluding the payment amount) can be "shared", either publicly or with the user's network of friends, on the user's "news feed", like a social media feed.{{cite web | url=http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2015/03/26/cash-credit-or-mobile-app-rise-venmo#.VTIK-eGzn6o | title=Cash, credit or mobile app: the rise of Venmo | last=Moorthy | first=Neelesh | work=The Chronicle | date=March 25, 2015 | access-date=2015-04-18 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815075714/http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2015/03/26/cash-credit-or-mobile-app-rise-venmo#.VTIK-eGzn6o | archive-date=2015-08-15 | url-status=dead }}

Venmo publishes a "world wide" public feed, a "friends only" feed, and a personal feed. By default, all Venmo transactions are shared publicly. Anyone who opens the app to the public feed, including those who do not use Venmo, can see these publicly shared transactions.{{Cite web |title=Who Can View Your Venmo Profile and Post? |date=November 7, 2022 |url=https://sacmav.com/can-you-see-who-views-your-venmo-profile/ |publisher=sacmav}} The user can make transactions private, but most users keep the default privacy settings.{{cite web|url=http://qz.com/359903/the-emoji-of-venmo/|title=The emoji of Venmo: food, booze, partying, and, occasionally, rent|last=Wener-Fligner|first=Zach|date=March 20, 2015|work=Quartz|access-date=April 18, 2015}} Venmo encourages social interaction on the application through comments{{cite web |last1=Jain |first1=Ashish |title=Venmo Captions |url=https://www.mybestcaptions.com/2019/11/Funny-Venmo-Captions-For-Friends-Food-Rent.html |website=Mybestcaptions |access-date=17 January 2020}} using jokes, emojis, or likes.

Early on, Venmo required new users to sign up through Facebook, which made it easy to find peers the user wanted to pay and provided Venmo with free marketing.{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/04/how-venmo-won-in-one-of-the-most-crowded-spaces-in-tech/|title=How Venmo Won In One Of The Most Crowded Spaces In Tech|author=Bird|first=John|date=November 4, 2015|access-date=June 23, 2017}} For users not friends on Facebook, the application allowed searching by username and phone number. Profiles are personalized with profile pictures, usernames, and Venmo transaction history. Venmo provides no protection for buyer or seller.{{Cite web |title=Venmo Security |url=https://venmo.com/about/security/ |publisher=Venmo}}

On November 14, 2023, Venmo introduced a feature called Venmo Groups, which enables group expense tracking and bill management within the app,{{Cite press release |title=Introducing Venmo Groups |date=2023-11-14 |publisher=Venmo |url=https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2023-11-14-Introducing-Venmo-Groups}} competing with dedicated apps such as Splitwise.{{Cite web |last=Peterson |first=Jake |date=2023-11-14 |title=Venmo May Have Just Killed Splitwise |url=https://lifehacker.com/tech/venmo-killed-splitwise |access-date=2024-07-22 |website=Lifehacker}}

Venmo has claimed that its security is "bank-grade".{{Cite web |date=2018-02-28 |title=FTC Proposes Settlement over Venmo Disclosures, Claims of 'Bank-Grade' Security |url=https://bankingjournal.aba.com/2018/02/ftc-proposes-settlement-over-venmo-disclosures-claims-of-bank-grade-security/ |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=ABA Banking Journal |language=en-US}} However, journalists, security researchers, the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) and the Federal Trade Commission have all disputed this claim.{{cite web|title=Venmo security: it's not as strong as the company wants you to think|date=2015-02-01 | url=https://slate.com/technology/2015/02/venmo-security-its-not-as-strong-as-the-company-wants-you-to-think.html |first=Alison |last=Griswold |website=Slate|access-date=2015-10-23}}{{cite web|title=Security research of a social payment app |url=https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.857/2014/files/13-benkraft-jmoldow-mannes-venmo.pdf|website=MIT CSAIL|access-date=2015-10-23|date=2014-05-14}}{{cite news | title=Venmo App: Users Raise Questions About the Security of Peer-to-Peer Money Transfer Service | url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/venmo-app-users-raise-questions-security-peer-peer/story?id=29658676 | work=ABC News |date=March 18, 2015 |access-date=13 October 2024 }}{{cite news |last=Demos |first=Telis |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/you-accidentally-venmoed-149-to-a-stranger-good-luck-getting-it-back-1531411133 |title=You Accidentally Sent $149 to a Stranger on Venmo? Good Luck Getting It Back |date=July 12, 2018 |work=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=February 11, 2020 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/736352315 |title=Episode 922: The Cost Of Getting Your Money Back |date=June 26, 2019 |work=Planet Money |publisher=National Public Radio |access-date=February 11, 2020 }}

In February 2018, the FTC settled with Venmo, after an investigation uncovered false representations about "bank-grade" security and failures to comply with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Safeguards Rule and Privacy Rule.{{Cite press release | url=https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2018/02/paypal-settles-ftc-charges-venmo-failed-disclose-information | title=PayPal Settles FTC Charges that Venmo Failed to Disclose Information to Consumers About the Ability to Transfer Funds and Privacy Settings; Violated Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act | publisher=Federal Trade Commission | date=February 27, 2018}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2018/02/venmo-settlement-addresses-availability-funds-privacy|title=FTC Venmo Settlement addresses availability of funds, privacy practices and GLB|last=Fair|first=Lesley|date=February 27, 2018|work=Federal Trade Commission Business Blog|access-date=April 7, 2018}} Under the settlement, Venmo would be required to undergo third-party audits every two years for the following ten years. The FTC also complained that Venmo "misled consumers about the extent to which they could control the privacy of their transactions" and misrepresented the availability of funds for withdrawal.{{Cite web |year=2017 |title=Before the Federal Trade Commission: In the Matter of Paypal, Inc., a corporation (FTC Complaint against Venmo) |url=https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/venmo_complaint.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408205855/https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/venmo_complaint.pdf |archive-date=2018-04-08 |publisher=Federal Trade Commission}}

Venmo states that customers need not worry about their security or privacy, and encourages users to set up a PIN to increase security.{{Cite news|url=http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/032415/how-safe-venmo-and-why-it-free.asp|title=How Safe is Venmo and Why is it Free?|last=Nath|first=Trevir|date=2015-03-24|work=Investopedia|access-date=2018-02-23|language=en-US}} On July 17, 2018, The Guardian{{cite news |first=Olivia |last=Solon |title=Venmo: how the payment app exposes our private lives |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/17/venmo-payments-app-default-privacy-settings-public-information |access-date=July 19, 2018 |work=The Guardian |location=London}} published an article showing that Venmo is insecure because privacy protection is not set by default. According to the researcher who found this privacy issue, Venmo publishes all transactions along with names openly into the World Wide Web.

The Better Business Bureau has reported that some scammers exploit the cancellation period to appear to pay, but ultimately avoid paying for an item.{{Cite news |url=http://www.bbb.org/council/news-events/bbb-scam-alerts/2016/scammers-use-venmo-to-fool-sellers/ |title=Scammers Use Venmo to Fool Sellers|access-date=2016-10-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022182636/http://www.bbb.org/council/news-events/bbb-scam-alerts/2016/scammers-use-venmo-to-fool-sellers/ |archive-date=2016-10-22 |url-status=dead |publisher=Better Business Bureau }}

In November 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that Venmo, in the first quarter of 2018, had suffered $40 million in operating losses, nearly 40% more than it had budgeted, due to "a wave of payments fraud".{{Cite news |last=Rudegeair |first=Peter |date=November 24, 2018 |title=Venmo Caught Off Guard by Fraudsters; A spike in fraudulent activity earlier this year led to higher losses than the payments company had expected |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/venmo-caught-off-guard-by-fraudsters-1543068120 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=5 May 2020}}

A 2018 study analyzed over 200 million public transactions and found that Venmo "reveals a massive amount of private details about users' lives by default". The same year, the company reached a settlement with the FTC after the FTC had accused Venmo of "misleading" users about the privacy settings changes required to make transactions completely private. In 2019, another researcher downloaded and analyzed seven million transactions, concluding that although Venmo had made some very minor to no improvements limiting mass-scraping, the data still put users at risk for various forms of cyber attacks.{{Cite magazine|last=Salmon|first=Dan|date=2019-06-26|title=I Scraped Millions of Venmo Payments. Your Data Is at Risk|language=en|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/story/i-scraped-millions-of-venmo-payments-your-data-is-at-risk/|access-date=2020-02-12|issn=1059-1028}}

In 2019, Mozilla and the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote an open letter "to express our deep concern about Venmo's disregard for the importance of user privacy, and to call on Venmo to make two critical changes to its privacy settings: make transactions private by default, and give users privacy settings for their friend lists".

Venmo's social model has attracted attention from researchers. A research group from University of Washington observed in 2017 that the social feed in Venmo differs from other social networks in that activity is driven by financial transactions. A user could make a trivial transaction to make a post (e.g., sending someone $0.01, or requesting $0.02), but only one participant in their studies reported ever doing this. Further, neither reading the feed nor sharing a transaction memo publicly or with friends is necessary to send or receive money.{{Cite journal |last=Caraway |first=Monica |last2=Epstein |first2=Daniel A. |last3=Munson |first3=Sean A. |date=2017-12-06 |title=Friends Don't Need Receipts: The Curious Case of Social Awareness Streams in the Mobile Payment App Venmo |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3134663 |journal=Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. |volume=1 |issue=CSCW |pages=28:1–28:17 |doi=10.1145/3134663|url-access=subscription }}

On Venmo, people transact with both friends and businesses via the app. Analysis of public transactions identifies a spectrum of use patterns, from regular users who create transactions for a variety of expenses, to niche users who use Venmo with a small cluster of friends to pay for just a few things (e.g., bills among roommates).{{Cite journal|last=Xinyi|first=Zhang|date=2017|title=Cold Hard E-Cash: Friends and Vendors in the Venmo Digital Payments System|url=http://cs.ucsb.edu/~xyzhang/venmo-icwsm17.pdf|journal=Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2017)}}

A May 2021 investigation by BuzzFeed News reportedly managed to find the Venmo account of United States president Joe Biden after "less than 10 minutes of looking for it"; BuzzFeed News additionally states that the Venmo app "leaves everyone ... in the world exposed" and states that it reveals a major privacy concern.{{Cite web|last1=Mac|first1=Ryan|last2=Notopoulos|first2=Katie|last3=Brooks|first3=Ryan|last4=McDonald|first4=Logan|date=14 May 2021|title=We Found Joe Biden's Secret Venmo. Here's Why That's A Privacy Nightmare For Everyone.|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/we-found-joe-bidens-secret-venmo|access-date=15 May 2021|website=BuzzFeed News}}{{Cite web|last=Peters|first=Jay|date=14 May 2021|title=Venmo shows who you're friends with even if you're Joe Biden|url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/14/22436847/venmo-contact-friends-list-not-private-president-joe-biden|access-date=15 May 2021|website=The Verge}}{{Cite web|last=Relchert|first=Corinne|date=14 May 2021|title=Biden's Venmo account was reportedly tracked down within minutes|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/bidens-venmo-account-was-reportedly-tracked-down-within-minutes/|access-date=15 May 2021|website=CNET}}{{Cite web|last=Pengelly|first=Martin|date=15 May 2021|title=Joe Biden's Venmo account discovered in 'less than 10 minutes' – report|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/15/biden-venmo-account-buzzfeed-news-national-security|access-date=15 May 2021|website=The Guardian}}

In 2022, Rajat Tandon and Jelena Mirkovic from the University of Southern California, along with their research collaborators, showcased that 2 in 5 Venmo users publicly reveal sensitive information. Their work, "I know what you did on Venmo: Discovering privacy leaks in mobile social payments",{{Cite web|last=Tandon|first=Rajat|date=15 July 2022|title=I know what you did on Venmo: Discovering privacy leaks in mobile social payments|url=https://petsymposium.org/popets/2022/popets-2022-0069.pdf|access-date=11 March 2022|website=Privacy Enhancing Technologies}} which presents multiple findings from 389 million public transaction Venmo notes, highlights serious risks from a public-by-default policy for mobile social payments.

Venmo came under scrutiny from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2021 over the company's treatment of their customers owing money for transactions. PayPal, the company operating Venmo's platform, announced through a regulatory filing in February that it had received a civil investigative demand from the CFPB "related to Venmo's unauthorized funds transfers and collections processes, and related matters." Venmo has a history of using aggressive tactics to threaten debt-owing users, ranging from seizing the funds from the user's other PayPal accounts to sending debt collectors after users. Customer service emails showed the company notifying users it could involve a collection agency over debts from $3,000 to as low as $7 in 2019, in some instances even when the customer in question had been scammed. Such practices continued during the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite news|last=McCaffrey|first=Peter Rudegeair and Orla|date=2021-02-05|title=Venmo's Debt-Collection Practices Probed by CFPB|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/venmos-debt-collection-practices-probed-by-cfpb-11612537319|access-date=2021-02-06|issn=0099-9660}}{{Cite news|last=Rudegeair|first=Peter|date=2019-03-25|title=Venmo to Users: If You Owe Us Money, We're Coming for It|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/venmo-to-users-if-you-owe-us-money-were-coming-for-it-11553518800|access-date=2021-02-06|issn=0099-9660}}{{Cite news|last=Rudegeair|first=Peter|date=2020-09-24|title=Even in a Pandemic, Venmo Tells Conned Customers to Pay Up|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/even-in-a-pandemic-venmo-tells-conned-customers-to-pay-up-11600939826|access-date=2021-02-06|issn=0099-9660}}

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