How To Register A Complaint For Something Paid Via Square

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Square's Cash App vulnerable to hackers, customers claim: 'They're completely ghosting you'

Without warning, hackers tuckered every dollar of cash, stock, or bitcoin out of accounts linked to Cash App, Square's (SQ)'due south pop payments platform, six of its customers told Yahoo Finance.

Cash App functions as a substitute banking company for many of its more than 36 1000000 monthly users.

"I had to sell my car seat that I but bought for my infant that I'm going to have in a couple of months, so that I could feed my kids, considering I have no money now," Shania Jensen, 24, a Cash App user from Utah, said almost her account shortly after it was drained of well-nigh $iii,000.

Jensen, one of six Greenbacks App customers who recently told Yahoo Finance they were targeted by unauthorized transactions, said when she went to bed on the evening of March 5 her coin was in her business relationship, and by 7 a.m. the next solar day, it was gone. She said she filed a police report, a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and reported the affair to Utah'south attorney full general.

March 7, 2020 Tweet posted by Cash App user Shania Jensen — March seven, 2020 Tweet posted by Greenbacks App user Shania Jensen

Mobile payment platforms such as Cash App, besides as PayPal (PYPL), PayPal'south Venmo, Google Pay, and bank owned Zelle, have seen a rise in downloads during the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the increase, a leap in the number of app reviews mentioning the word "scam" or "fraud" for all except Zelle, according to mobile intelligence firm Apptopia.

Cash App — which deemed for nearly one-half of Square'due south turn a profit in the about recent quarter — stands out for its broad range of available transactions. It accepts directly deposits for paychecks and government stimulus funds, processes peer-to-peer transfers, offers its own branded debit carte du jour, and permits users to buy and sell stock and bitcoin (BIT-USD) within the app (equally of March 17, it lets users send bitcoin to other Greenbacks App users for free).

The six Cash App customers said repeated efforts to talk directly with a man beingness at the company to aid them get their money back were largely unsuccessful, exhausting, and stressful. Cash App acknowledges that it has no live phone support "more often than not available," simply says it views fighting fraud as critically important and has invested in engineering science to flag potential scams.

'85% of the apps nosotros look at have some sort of security or privacy consequence'

Over the past twelvemonth, the Ameliorate Business Bureau (BBB) has "closed" or looked into 2,485 complaints concerning Cash App, and 3,532 concerning Foursquare, where customers have too logged Cash App complaints. Complaints handled concerning Venmo for the same timeframe totaled 928, for Zelle 83. PayPal, which has 377 million active accounts, had 7,215 complaints.

Though the BBB does not disembalm its volume of pending complaints, Lori Wilson, president and CEO of the BBB's San Francisco Bay Expanse and Northern Coastal California capacity, said the number of closed complaints is "probably" the metric that best reflects total complaints.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), over the past three years, the agency received i,559 complaints concerning Cash App's parent company, Square, nether which any Cash App complaints are filed. The majority of the complaints involved money transfer, virtual currency, or money services issues.

Data from mobile intelligence provider Apptopia shows total mentions of "fraud" or "scam" in app user reviews jumped 335% year over year for Cash App from February 2020 to February 2021. For PayPal full mentions jumped 191%. For Venmo full mentions jumped 84%.

Mobile intelligence firm Apptopia says certain payment apps accept been flooded with scams since the pandemic. Full mentions of the words "fraud" or "scam" in app user reviews jumped 335% for Cash App in February 2021, compared with February 2020. PayPal saw a 191% increase and Venmo saw a leap of 84%. Zelle, however, declined nine%.

Of course, mere mentions of the words fraud or scams in reviews tin can't reveal precisely how vulnerable an app is, according to figurer forensics practiced Andrew Hoog of mobile app security business firm NowSecure. Still, it makes sense that Zelle might have fewer instances of fraud given the cohort of big banks invested in improving the platform.

"What I've generally seen is that the security and privacy of the app increases significantly nether the scrutiny of a large, mature establishment," Hoog said.

Among 42 mobile apps tested in March by NowSecure, including apps commonly used by U.S. consumers for payments and money transfers, 34 revealed security issues that earned them a — Among 42 mobile apps tested in March by NowSecure, including apps ordinarily used by U.S. consumers for payments and money transfers, 34 revealed security issues that earned them a "C" class and half dozen revealed security issues that earned them an "F" grade.

Hoog said mobile apps and mobile websites, in general, are peculiarly vulnerable to hacks. "85% of the apps we look at have some sort of security or privacy issue," he said. "What I've seen for over 10 years, and rather depressing since I've been working on this trouble for so long...that metric hasn't really inverse."

In response to questions near the users' concerns over Greenbacks App's security vulnerabilities, a Cash App spokesperson told Yahoo Finance that it continues to invest in fraud-fighting staff and technology resources.

"We are constantly improving systems and controls to help forbid, detect, and study bad activity on the platform," a company spokesperson said, calculation that Cash App recently released an AI-driven feature to flag potential scams and began sending SMS text letters to alarm customers of suspicious login attempts.

Hoog said while Cash App'due south parent company Square is not comparable in its security sophistication to a tier one bank, it is highly respected within the app development manufacture for its application programming interface (API), back end programming features that let different apps to talk to each other.

"Sick to my stomach" over Greenbacks App hack

While Square's API is regarded equally respected, the allegations of scams on Cash App's platform are alarming. Britt Soderberg, a California business organization owner, said he was scammed out of approximately $21,000 on Greenbacks App. Soderberg said starting in August, hackers repeatedly generated imitation refunds in the app, from his bank account to his authentic contacts. Once his authentic contacts returned the money to his Cash App account, hackers seized the cash to purchase bitcoin, then transferred it to an unknown bitcoin wallet, Soderberg said.

California business owner, Britt Soderberg, said his Cash App account was drained of approximately $21,000 worth of bitcoin in a series of unauthorized transfers between August 10 and September 9, 2020. — California business owner, Britt Soderberg, said his Greenbacks App account was drained of approximately $21,000 worth of bitcoin in a series of unauthorized transfers betwixt August 10 and September ix, 2020. Credit: Britt Soderberg

A ledger showing a portion of approximately $21,000 in unauthorized Cash App bitcoin transactions that Cash App account holder, Britt Soderberg, says were perpetuated by a hacker between August 10, 2020 and September 9, 2020. — A ledger showing a portion of approximately $21,000 in unauthorized Cash App bitcoin transactions that Cash App account holder, Britt Soderberg, says were perpetuated past a hacker between August 10, 2020 and September 9, 2020.

In some other scam involving bitcoin, all $i,850 was wiped out from the Cash App-linked bank account of a Bay Area freshman pharmacology pupil, according to the student, who contacted Yahoo Finance on Twitter about his concerns, and asked to remain anonymous over fears that disclosing more personal information could compound his financial misfortunes.

The student said hackers converted the funds to Tesla (TSLA) stock, and then to bitcoin (BIT-USD), then out of his account entirely. The ambush, he said, happened over a 10-infinitesimal bridge on Feb. 22, starting with a ten:17 a.yard. "instant sign in" text message that appeared to come from Cash App.

The text seemed to be a genuine find of a fraudulent attempt to log into his account, he said. At the time, he said he had been using the app for ii years, without incident, and had activated security features including two-step hallmark, face-ID, and a required pin entry for every transaction.

"Information technology'due south their official domain. Information technology'southward the Cash-dot-App domain," he said about the URL within the message. At 10:21 a.k., a similar text followed with a link connecting him to his account, he said. At that place, he double checked that his security settings and accounts appeared equally they should. At 10:27 a.m., hackers began a series of cash withdrawals used to buy Tesla stock — a first transaction processed $ane,000 worth of shares, then $500, then $250, then $100. Immediately, the stock was sold and the proceeds were sent to a bitcoin wallet.

"When all this was going downward I received no notifications whatsoever," the student said, bewildered that the hackers also blocked Greenbacks App from sending its regular transaction confirmations.

He said Cash App responded to his first report of fraud, via email, saying initially that only his bank could initiate a dispute over the withdrawals. He said repeated requests to talk with a Cash App representative were unsuccessful.

"I've literally been sick to my stomach every twenty-four hour period because of this company...and information technology's still happening, that'due south the distressing thing," he told Yahoo Finance.

'They're completely ghosting you'

Cash App has been criticized by some customers, including on its Cash Support Twitter account and Reddit, who say they're frustrated with its security breaches, nail-bitter delays in response to reports of stolen funds, account deactivations, and largely automated customer service. The company has also been defendant in a putative class action lawsuit of violating consumers' rights to dispute fraudulent transactions under the Electronic Fund Transfers Human activity.

Cash App acknowledges that a telephone number on its site prompts a recording instructing business relationship holders to contact a Greenbacks team fellow member through the app. Customers say those options oft spur a advice loop where bots rather than humans handle their reports of fraud.

"It's almost like an abusive relationship where you're trying to get a agree of somebody and they're completely ghosting you," said Jensen, the 24-year-old who says her account was drained overnight.

In Jensen'southward instance, Cash App successfully blocked 2 fraudulent attempts to withdraw approximately $2,600 from her account, she said. Minutes later, she said, the hackers withdrew smaller amounts of $1,600, $1,000, and $500.

"I don't know how this didn't get flagged," Jensen said. To add together to her frustration, she said, Cash App's representatives were available only through call back requests, handled at Cash App's convenience.

Cash App'due south lack of readily available phone agents has also been exploited by fraudsters who set imposter visitor contact numbers to steal customers' account information, according to ABC'due south WLS Chicago, WRIC Richmond and WTVD Raleigh.

In this photo analogy a Cash App logo seen displayed on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Lance Gibson fell victim to the scheme.

On Jan, 26, he noticed $301 missing from his Cash App account and Googled a way to call the company. Not realizing his search generated an imposter customer service line, a fake company agent asked him to show his identity using a verification app from the App Store. Within minutes of downloading the app, he said, $i,665 in his linked bank account had disappeared.

Gibson said four days after his banking company credited him for his loss, he received an car-generated email from Cash App informing him his instance had been closed. To make matters worse, he said, his bank required him to relinquish the credited funds because Greenbacks App declined to designate the disputed transaction as fraud, he said.

"I might have to take out a personal loan to pay my rent this month," Gibson said.

Soderberg and the student, who both permitted Yahoo Finance to share their "$Cashtag" account identities with Cash App, said Cash App contacted them past email after Yahoo Finance relayed the data. While both said Cash App offered to assist, they're unsatisfied with Cash App's response so far.

While he says he lost $21,000, Soderberg said Greenbacks App has so far deposited only a $267 "provisional credit" to his business relationship. Meanwhile, the student said Cash App agreed to re-deposit certain stocks removed from his account.

Cash App has refunded Jensen'due south money in total, she said.

Both Soderberg and Jensen said Cash App suggested, without caption, that their accounts may have been accessed by way of their respective linked emails and that they allowed the unauthorized events to occur.

All of the users said they would similar Cash App to explain exactly how their accounts were compromised.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance and former litigation attorney.

Follow Alexis Keenan on Twitter @alexiskweed.

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