Cash App Scams On The Rise During The Holidays

Everyone loves the convenience of cash apps. Money at your fingertips without having to carry around a debit/credit card or cash in your wallet or purse. With convenience comes compromise and risk.

Angel here and recently I was hit with a cash app scam. Luckily, it was not as bad as it could have been and I wanted to share my experience with you all.

I was expecting a payment from a friend and went to check my app. I signed in and noticed in my activity log a message from Paypal that read as follows;

After a review your account has been limited due to unpaid fees, please pay this invoice to cover your unpaid fees and remove this limitation permanently.

I immediately went to the help center of the app and looked for answers to why my account might be limited. I knew I hadn't done anything that would cause it to be and this seemed weird. Sure enough, there is a section in the help center that talks about limits on an account. I read through it and thought well I guess it's legit. So, I sent the $6.75 they were asking for. Signed off and waited until the next day. My account was still not allowing the fee to come through. I called Paypal and spoke to a rep and they told me I had been a victim of fraud and they would never ask for money. They filed a dispute and put the money in my account. Thankfully, my problem was solved fast and easy but it could have been much worse.

This was only the first experience. A few days later something similar happened on another cash app. I was trying to send money to a friend for a fundraiser and a screen popped up that looked like it was from my bank asking for my username and password. I got a gut feeling to sign out and contact the app. Guess what!? It was another attempt at a scam.

Please pay attention and be aware. I have always thought I was more aware when it came to scams and fraud. The hackers are getting smarter and more advanced and desperate.

I was speaking to the friend I was going to send money to from my app and she told me something very similar happened to her. She said someone accessed her account and sent messages to her friends asking for gas money because she was stranded. She didn't even know it happened until people began calling her phone and messaging saying they would come to pick her up.