{"id":23200,"date":"2020-03-05T11:18:57","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T19:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/?p=23200"},"modified":"2022-09-06T15:50:07","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T23:50:07","slug":"is-venmo-safe-protecting-yourself-against-hacks-and-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/is-venmo-safe-protecting-yourself-against-hacks-and-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Venmo Safe? Protecting Yourself Against Hacks and Scams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Running to the nearest Western Union office to transfer money or sending a check by snail mail is so<\/em> last century. These days there are plenty of ways to send money easily, notably with mobile-centric services like Venmo<\/a>. Venmo makes transferring money easy, but unfortunately it also creates opportunities for fraudsters and scam artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Venmo Works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At its heart, Venmo is more or less a mash-up between a Paypal-style payment app \u2014 it\u2019s owned by Paypal \u2014 and a social network. Its primary purpose is to make it easy for you to exchange money with friends and family<\/a>, whether that means splitting a lunch tab or helping someone out with an unexpected bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t have to link a bank account, debit card, or credit card to receive a Venmo payment; just download the app and open an account. Once you have funds in your Venmo account you can send them to anyone else with a Venmo account. You can also use the funds to make purchases in any app, online or real-world retailer that accepts Venmo. If you want to use the funds outside of Venmo, you\u2019ll need to link to one of your real-world accounts so you can transfer your money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The social part comes from Venmo\u2019s news feed, which by default shows your activity on the app. Whenever you send or receive a transfer or make a purchase, it\u2019ll be visible. You can opt to leave this completely public, restrict it to friends, or turn it off altogether. If your account is set to full privacy and the person you\u2019re sending to is completely public, Venmo will respect your privacy and override your friend\u2019s public settings so your activity will not show up on the app\u2019s main feed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is Venmo Safe?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As you\u2019d expect in a Paypal-owned company, Venmo has plenty of security tools<\/a> in its arsenal. It uses encryption to protect your account details, for example, and keeps your information on secure servers. You can also set up a two-layer (or more) authentication process for transactions and protect your Venmo app with a PIN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That being said, anywhere lots of money changes hands you\u2019ll find criminals and scam artists<\/a> looking for a way in. Security researchers occasionally identify vulnerabilities<\/a> in the software, but those are typically caught and snuffed out before they\u2019re actively used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the time, it\u2019s not clever hacking that puts your money at risk. It\u2019s you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venmo Scams: A Quick Primer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Venmo isn\u2019t intended to be your general-purpose payment platform, the way parent company Paypal is. It assumes that you know and trust the other users you exchange funds with, as opposed to using it randomly out there in the great wide world for purchases. If you do use Venmo to buy something, it should only be from \u2014 again \u2014 someone you know or a merchant from Venmo\u2019s approved network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n