Checking my Venmo now to see if I was the wrong recipient of $475! 💰

Anonymous wrote:God people suck. I hope they send it back op. I would.

People don’t suck. We just don’t want to be scammed. So yes I’d give it back but not just by re-Venmo-ing it.

Overpayment
How the scam works: Venmo refund scams, or overpayment scams, are a variation of the “accidental payment” scam. The scammer sends you too much money and asks you to refund the overpayment. The scammer disappears after being refunded, and the “overpayment” is soon reversed, since it was from a stolen account.
How to avoid it: Only refund through Venmo support, and don’t be afraid to call Venmo at (855) 812-4430 if you’re unsure about a claim

I recently sent $35 to someone else by mistake because my friend gave me an incorrect cell number. I texted that number and kindly asked for the money back. The person returned the money! Made my day.

I didn’t read all the posts but here’s what happened to me recently: a woman Venmoed me $45 and I didn’t recognize her so I responded to her Venmo by saying that I didn’t know her and that she contact Venmo. She must have contacted Venmo because ultimately, they reversed the charges.

Anonymous wrote:Use Zelle. Not perfect but better. Don't send any money to anybody unless you have already put their phone number in your phone and double checked it for accuracy. I doubt you are getting your money back unless the person you sent it to has a lot of integrity.

I have Zelle too, but I don't know how it's better. My bank is very explicit that when you send Zelle funds it's on you to make sure they are going to the right place. And a disadvantage of Zelle is that you have to give a legit email address or your mobile number. I had a scammer who didn't reveal the scam until after they had sent me an email. With Venmo that would not have happened.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Venmo isn't going to give it back. This is on you. I am sorry and hope the person gives it back to you. Venmo is essentially a way of transferring cash...if you give someone cash, nobody is going to help you get it back even if you meant to give it to someone else.

OP again. But will my action of calling the bank and stopping the payment work? It should, right?

DP. Hopefully. B/c PP is right - Venmo isn't going to help you. That said, I did this with $20 once and contacted the person and they sent it back. Learned my lesson to use the cell number for verification.

In the future, when sending a Venmo or Zelle payment to a new recipient, send a test $1 first. After your known recipient confirms that they received it, send the balance. I learned to do this after a potentially costly mistake. I was fortunate that the person had not accepted the Zelle payment and I could reverse it.

I had someone accidentally pay me once. I tried to get Venmo to undo it, but they wouldn’t/can’t. So I accepted the payment, then paid them back the same amount. They never contacted me saying it was a mistake, and no additional money was taken from me, so I guess it wasn’t a scam that time.
I would have thought just not accepting the money would let them take it back, but apparently not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God people suck. I hope they send it back op. I would.

Op it’s not a scammer, but that’s what scammers do. I don’t understand the scam but they’ll send you a small amount and hope you send it back. I would never send money back.

The money is sent with a stolen credit card. The money you send back goes into the scammer's account. Once the card is reported stolen, the initial payment you received is refunded to the card holder.

Anonymous wrote:We learned the hard way - Venmo will refund your money. Once. No more mistakes. Talk to someone in customer service.

How did you ever reach a live person in customer service?

OP again. Thank you all for your help and comments. I’ll post back as to what happens.

This was a stupid mistake on my part- something along the lines of sending it to Ann-smith instead of Ann-smith-1

We learned the hard way - Venmo will refund your money. Once. No more mistakes. Talk to someone in customer service.

Anonymous wrote:God people suck. I hope they send it back op. I would.

Op it’s not a scammer, but that’s what scammers do. I don’t understand the scam but they’ll send you a small amount and hope you send it back. I would never send money back.

Anonymous wrote:God people suck. I hope they send it back op. I would.

A common scam is to venmo someone money and then ask them to return it. They do and then they get debited again because it turns out the initial payment was fraudulent.


"Payments from Strangers
Details:

A stranger may send a payment to you, then contact you to say they sent it by mistake

They will then ask you to send the money back as a new payment

How to avoid this scam:

It’s best not to exchange payments with people who you don’t know
If you don’t know the person who paid you, you should contact us as soon as possible so we can help reverse the payment
To help prevent this from happening in the future, we recommend blocking users who send unsolicited payments or requests"

https://help.venmo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360048404533-Common-Scams-on-Venmo#h_01G3C4RBC0GZMDR3XH8HWB71WY

It sucks for OP, but if I got money, I would never just return it. I'd contact my bank and let them deal with it.

Send the same person a request for the same amount with a comment that you sent it in error. They don't HAVE to respond but that's worked before for me.