DENVER (KDVR) — A Denver man was targeted by a scammer on a cash transfer app.
Walt Koelbel told FOX31 that a scammer used his deceased father’s name to hack into the account.
“Taking money from somebody they don’t know that is just trying to live their life with their family and kids,” said Koelbel.
Koelbel said he received a suspicious email in October saying his password had been changed approximately one minute after a request to change the password. He was then locked out of his account and could not reach customer service at that time of night.
“All night I’m freaked out that all the money I have in there is gone realized that my checking account is tied to that so I immediately (transferred) all of my checking into my savings,” he said.
Koelbel showed FOX31 a chat transcript that showed the hacker in action.
“They got into the account twice,” he said.
The Problem Solvers contacted Venmo’s parent company PayPal on Koelbel’s behalf after he said he could not have the problem resolved in a reasonable amount of time since reporting the issue in October.
Venmo’s parent company PayPal immediately conducted another investigation and told FOX31 that a password security issue was involved. Cash transfer scams using the names of deceased family members are not common.
Koelbel confirms the staff contacted him Tuesday night and told him they would address the issue and make things right.
Cybersecurity expert Pete Nicoletti, a member of the FBI and Secret Service Cybersecurity Task Force and Checkpoint’s Global Chief Information Security Officer told FOX31 that those who use cash transfer apps should take steps to safeguard their personal information.
“It’s not limited to just Venmo, it’s also PayPal and Cash App, it’s all the different apps and the criminals have multiple ways to get you separated from your money,” he said.
Consumer advocates advise that you transfer the money you receive in cash transfer apps as soon as possible and limit the funds you keep in accounts linked to apps.
Venmo told FOX31 that anyone using any cash transfer app should set strong passwords across online accounts, including on email and social media.
Users can add extra security to their accounts by enabling multi-factor authentication, updating devices as soon as the update is made available, using anti-virus software and enabling automatic updates to protect against malware.
Regularly review security settings across all online accounts.
In the event of any problem, Venmo recommends that customers change their account information including passwords, PINs, security questions and contact the Customer Security Team and their financial institutions immediately.
Venmo partners with consumer protection institutions such as the BBB, AARP, FTC, and the Aspen Institute and recently launched the Smarter Than Scams campaign with the Financial Technology Association.
