• This SMS phishing campaign targets Venmo users with phishing text messages that direct to a fake website.
  • There’s another version of the scam that is going rounds targeting Venmo users, wherein users will receive a large amount of money from anonymous sources.

What is the issue?

Dighton police department in Massachusetts, US has warned the users of Venmo mobile payment service about a new SMS phishing campaign.

How does the scam work?

This SMS phishing campaign targets users with phishing text messages that direct to a fake website.

  • Scammers deliver text messages with malicious links to Venmo users.
  • The malicious link redirects users to a fake website that collects their personal and banking information.
  • The phishing message states that the users’ Venmo account will be charged unless they decline the operation, for which they need to log in with their phone number and password.
  • Users are then asked to verify themselves by typing their payment card numbers along with additional personal and financial information.

Another version of the scam

There’s another version of the scam that is going around targeting Venmo users.

  • In this version, Venmo users will receive a large amount of money from anonymous sources.
  • Later, scammers will reach out to the user asking for the cashback stating that the transaction was made by mistake.
  • Once the user returns the money back, the scammers will double the money while contacting Venmo and having the transaction reversed.

A Venmo user reported in Reddit that he received $1000 in his Venmo account.

“A little over a moth ago, a completely random account sent $1000 to my Venmo account with the title saying 'for u'. I was very confused when I first saw this. It is pretty obvious that this was a scam based on the messages sent after the transaction [Seen here](https://imgur[.]com/a/GmJfZnZ). I decided to be patient and give them a chance to claim their money through Venmo in case this was actually real. Now that a month has passed, the funds are still in my Venmo wallet. I was wondering is anyone could give me any information on what I should do. Are these funds really in my wallet? What are the consequences of transferring this to my bank? What should I NOT do so I don't get robbed of $1000. So far I have already reset my Venmo password, and removed my bank from my account (my debit card is still attached),” the user reported.

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