You have probably used apps for peer-to-peer (P2P) payments (which are digital transactions between two people) like Venmo, Cash App, Zelle and Apple Pay. These apps let you send money to other people, quickly and usually for free, through using their phone number, email address or username.
They’re very convenient, very quick and in some ways have changed life for the better, but you should really know how to protect yourself when using them and what can go wrong. Recently, these P2P apps have become the favorite tools of scammers.
Even though most of these P2P apps are linked to your bank account, they do not come with fraud protection. Once you send someone money on Zelle, Paypal, Cashapp or Venmo, it’s pretty much impossible to get it back. Some of the best advice I got was to treat P2P apps like cash. Before giving someone cash, you always want to know exactly who you are giving it to.
Common scams include:
Fake seller scams: a fake product or service is advertised on Facebook Marketplace or another online platform. You pay for the product and the advertiser disappears with your money.
Phishing scams: You click on a link which installs malware on your device or records your log in details for a P2P app, which are used to drain money from your bank account. A popular new scam is the delivery scam, where you get a text pretending to be from USPS or UPS or some delivery company, informing you about a “missing package” which they claim you can retrieve by clicking on a link.
Impersonation scams: someone pretending to be a friend or family member persuades you to send them money. These scams are becoming even more sophisticated and harder to detect thanks to AI, which lets scammers clone voices and in some rare cases even faces.
Advance-fee scams: This is the modern version of the letter or email from a Nigerian prince who asks to borrow some money, promising you a big reward once they get their fortune.
If you don’t want to risk becoming a victim of one of these scams, you should immediately notify your bank or credit union by setting up alerts. If the P2P service you’re using is from them, contact the customer service support number on the back of your debit card when noticing suspicious activity.
Lock down your financial profile by asking the three major credit bureaus- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – to freeze your credit.
Contact the app directly through its website to reach customer service. Do not just find a number through a general google search, because you may get a fake website in your search results.
It is also important to file a police report and notify the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
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