The Venmo $99 Scam

So this just popped up in my email account. Apparently James P. Friedman requested $99 from my Venmo account. Here’s the screenshot.

Apparently a few minutes later, someone named Eric Patterson also requested $99 from my Venmo account. Here’s that screenshot.

And not a few minutes after THAT … came a $99 request from my Venmo account from Timothy K. Proper. Yep, screenshot here.

Well, now. Why would three strangers request $99 apiece from my Venmo account? And why would Venmo put these on hold like this? Maybe I should call that phone number … or click those blue buttons and hyperlinks to see what’s up …

And by now, you are probably SCREAMING at your computer terminal or your phone screen, “Don’t do it, Chuck! It’s a scam! It’s a phishing attempt to get at your Venmo account! Don’t do it, for the sake of all that’s holy!!”

Oh, don’t worry. I may have been born at night, but I wasn’t born last night.

Besides … I provided A screenshot, but I didn’t provide the screenshot that has a ton of detail that automatically proves these emails are nothing more than attempts to try to steal my money. Check THIS screenshot, for example.

I’ve had several public and personal email accounts in my life … but I’ve never had an email account with the name customerservice73@beamsup2.site. Nope. Never. And why would a major company with access to 1-800 and 1-888 numbers provide a customer service phone number with an area code (856) for Camden, New Jersey?

Oh, and one other thing, you ferret-faced, scabies-infested scammers …

CHUCK MILLER DOES NOT HAVE A VENMO ACCOUNT.

What Chuck Miller DOES have, however, is the ability to forward all three of your failed scam attempts to Venmo’s security team at phishing@venmo.com. And that’s what you should do if you receive any emails like this.

And if you do see anything that got past your spam filter and it looks sorta like a legit request … check everything before you click that hyperlink. Check where the email is coming from, and who it’s addressed to. If you DO have a Venmo account, log into that account directly and make sure that there isn’t a pending request that matches up with this spurious one you received.

Oh, and change your password when you can. Don’t operate on the same password that you’ve had since before the pandemic.

So … yeah. This is my public service announcement to you … don’t get nabbed by phishing scams like this. They’re not worth your time. Ever.