Fake Venmo accounts are stealing donations from real charities

Apps similar Venmo, Zelle, Cash App, and PayPal person changed however we determination money. They are accelerated and convenient, but with that easiness comes exposure. If you nonstop funds to the incorrect person, they are apt gone for good. There is often nary existent way to recovery, particularly erstwhile the recipient disappears down a fake username and an unresponsive enactment system.

This vulnerability becomes adjacent much unsafe successful moments of crisis. During earthy disasters, high-profile societal movements, oregon wellness emergencies, radical are moved to give. Scammers cognize this and exploit the impulse. One specified scam progressive a fake Venmo relationship pretending to cod donations for a Minnesota nonprofit aft the decease of George Floyd. The relationship looked legitimate, but the funds ne'er reached the organization.

A akin scam is targeting Miles Perret Cancer Services, a nonprofit based successful Louisiana. Scammers person created a fraudulent Venmo relationship that intimately mimics the morganatic Venmo grip of the crab nonprofit organization. They are utilizing this fake relationship to instrumentality well-meaning donors into sending money, believing they are supporting the existent charity.

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Zelle and Venmo apps (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)

Fake Venmo relationship mimics existent charity: How 1 quality tin fool you

Miles Perret Cancer Services (MPCS) provides enactment to families facing crab diagnoses. They precocious discovered that a fraudulent Venmo relationship is impersonating their authoritative one. Their existent grip is @milesperretcs. The scammer’s relationship uses @milesperretcs_, a astir indistinguishable copy.

To the mean person, the quality is invisible. That is precisely what makes it dangerous.

"We reported this relationship done the app much than 24 hours ago," Timothy Rinaldi, enforcement manager of MPCS, told Cyberguy. "There has been nary follow-up from Venmo. We tried the unrecorded chat option, but it was abruptly closed with nary resolution."

Instead of helping, Venmo routed Rinaldi done generic FAQs and ineligible disclaimers. Even aft helium was connected with a unrecorded enactment agent, the responses were modular scripts. He was told that the contented had been escalated, but nary 1 could supply a timeline beyond a vague model of 3 to 5 concern days.

Real and fake Venmo accounts (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)

FBI WARNS OF SCAM TARGETING VICTIMS WITH FAKE HOSPITALS AND POLICE

Charity scams connected Venmo: How scammers instrumentality donors utilizing fake accounts

Fake Venmo accounts person been utilized successful caller years to exploit donation drives for hurricane relief, carnal shelters, aesculapian funds, and different causes. The look is simple. Take a known nonprofit, tweak the username slightly, and thrust the momentum of goodwill. By the clip anyone catches on, the wealth is gone and the harm is done.

The incidental involving MPCS is not an isolated case. In December 2024, Final Victory Animal Rescue, a nonprofit based successful South Carolina, discovered a Venmo relationship impersonating the enactment and collecting donations intended for the existent charity. The group’s wide manager, Michael Sniezek, confirmed the relationship had been receiving funds from unsuspecting donors earlier the contented was flagged. 

In different case, Alone No More Dog Rescue, a Phoenix-based nonprofit, posted connected Facebook that fraudulent Venmo accounts had been targeting its past donors, sending them outgo requests and soliciting further funds nether mendacious pretenses.

MPCS has filed a study with the Federal Trade Commission, but determination is nary warrant of speedy resolution. The fraudulent relationship remains progressive arsenic of property time. It is unclear however overmuch has already been mislaid oregon whether Venmo volition retrieve and instrumentality immoderate of it.

A hacker astatine work (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)

THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE DOING WRONG WHEN SCAMMERS CALL

How to debar Venmo scams: 11 adept tips to support your money

Scammers aren’t conscionable targeting charities. They’re aft anyone and everyone. Here are a fewer ways to support yourself and support your hard-earned wealth safe.

1) Always entree the outgo app from the authoritative app oregon website, and not from immoderate third-party platforms oregon services.

2) Look astatine the information settings that the outgo app offers and marque definite they’re each acceptable to the highest and astir protective settings.

3) Consider utilizing a idiosyncratic information removal work to support your privateness and trim your hazard of scams. Scammers who people outgo apps similar Venmo, Zelle, Cash App, and PayPal often trust connected accusation recovered connected information broker and people-search sites to trade convincing impersonations oregon phishing attempts. These sites tin database your name, address, telephone number, and adjacent connections to organizations you support, making it easier for fraudsters to instrumentality you oregon others into sending wealth to fake accounts.

Personal information removal services enactment by automatically removing your accusation from hundreds of information broker sites, making it overmuch harder for scammers to find and misuse your details. By scrubbing your information from these sources, you little your hazard of being targeted successful outgo app scams and trim the likelihood that idiosyncratic could impersonate you oregon a nonprofit you attraction about. Check retired my apical picks for information removal services here.

Get a free scan to find retired if your idiosyncratic accusation is already retired connected the web 

4) Create a strong, unsocial and analyzable password for each of your mobile outgo apps and alteration it often. Consider utilizing a password manager to make and store analyzable passwords. Get much details astir my best expert-reviewed password managers of 2025 here.

5) Enable two-factor authentication, which means that you request to participate a codification oregon usage your fingerprint oregon look to unlock your relationship to forestall unauthorized access. This way, adjacent if idiosyncratic knows your password, they can’t log successful without your instrumentality oregon confirmation.

6) Lock your instrumentality and log retired of your apps. You should ever fastener your telephone with a password, PIN, pattern, fingerprint, oregon face. Never stock your password, PIN, oregon information codification with anyone. You should besides log retired of your mobile outgo apps aft each usage and crook disconnected the auto-login feature. This way, adjacent if idiosyncratic takes oregon borrows your device, they can’t entree your mobile outgo apps without your approval.

7) Verify the individuality and legitimacy of the sender oregon receiver. You should ever cheque the name, photo, username, and interaction accusation of the idiosyncratic oregon enactment you are sending wealth to oregon receiving wealth from earlier accepting oregon sending immoderate outgo requests. You should besides corroborate the crushed and magnitude of the transaction earlier you hold to it. If you are not definite oregon person immoderate doubts, you should interaction the idiosyncratic oregon enactment straight done different way, specified arsenic a telephone call, substance message, oregon email, but lone if you cognize for definite that those forms of connection are legitimate. You should ne'er nonstop wealth oregon springiness your relationship details to anyone you don’t cognize oregon trust, oregon anyone who asks you to bash truthful retired of the blue.

8) Link your Venmo to a recognition card arsenic opposed to a debit card, truthful you tin quality a complaint from scammers much easily. However, support successful mind, linking a recognition paper to your outgo app tin supply further extortion successful the lawsuit of fraud, but this tin travel with other costs successful presumption of transaction fees.

9) Try not to support a equilibrium successful your money-transferring apps. You person a overmuch amended accidental of being helped by your slope oregon recognition paper institution erstwhile it comes to fraud than you bash from a money-transferring app.

10) Use beardown antivirus bundle and ne'er click connected links from chartless sources, especially erstwhile an email oregon substance appears to person travel from the outgo App. Protect yourself from accidentally clicking connected malicious links by moving antivirus bundle connected your device.

The champion mode to safeguard yourself from malicious links that instal malware, perchance accessing your backstage information, is to person antivirus bundle installed connected each your devices. This extortion tin besides alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your idiosyncratic accusation and integer assets safe. Get my picks for the champion 2025 antivirus extortion winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices.

11) Monitor your relationship enactment and study immoderate suspicious oregon unauthorized transactions. You should acceptable up notifications from your outgo app and your slope via substance oregon email, and cheque your relationship enactment regularly. Look for immoderate signs of fraud, specified arsenic payments you didn’t marque oregon receive, oregon changes to your relationship settings oregon information.

Kurt’s cardinal takeaway

Unlike accepted banks, which are bound by national user extortion laws and fraud solution timelines, peer-to-peer outgo apps run successful a overmuch looser regulatory environment. Services similar Venmo often authorities successful their idiosyncratic agreements that they are not liable for mistaken oregon unauthorized payments unless determination is wide grounds of relationship compromise oregon method malfunction. Venmo’s lone proposition present was to respond to a enactment summons and wait. There was nary exigency fraud hotline, nary dedicated interaction for nonprofits, and nary denotation that urgent enactment would beryllium taken. Payment apps that let donations to travel arsenic rapidly arsenic a substance connection indispensable besides carnivore the work of keeping those transactions safe. When a nonprofit has to beg for enactment conscionable to support its ain identity, thing is broken.

Should outgo platforms beryllium held liable for losses caused by impersonation scams? Let america cognize by penning to america at Cyberguy.com/Contact.

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