Criminals can try to scam you into sending them money via a payment app — or they can steal it directly. As part of the accidental deposit scam, the crook will create a fake profile on a payment app like Zelle, Cash App, or Venmo, and tie a stolen credit card to it.
The crook then sends some cash to a random victim. The credit card company sees this as a payment to PayPal, which owns Venmo, not as a payment to an individual consumer, experts say, and it goes through to show extra cash in your account.
The problem is the random $200 or $300 that arrives in your account actually is stolen cash from a hacked credit card or bank account.
If you send any money back, ultimately the money you sent is just a transfer of cash from your account to the thief.
Not surprisingly, the thief is going to immediately withdraw whatever money you sent. And then, the crook will quickly close their Venmo or other peer-to-peer payment account.
Down the line, experts say, the credit card company will discover the fraud and initiate a “charge back” against PayPal. The original transaction involving the stolen card is reversed but the victim has already paid the thief — and the victim isn’t likely to get any money back.
