(TNS) — Here’s something everyone needs to see, especially if you send money to others using certain apps we all know and love.
So, if you’re an avid user of Cash App, Venmo, and — a personal favorite of many — Zelle, listen up.
Turns out, those apps are all leaving consumers vulnerable to fraud that’s “draining bank accounts of significant sums of money,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. said in letters that were sent to the companies that own those financial programs.
And in those letters, he demands better consumer protections for users, according to a press release from the Manhattan DA’s Office.
His letters are all in response to financial app thefts that have been taking over Manhattan and making rounds across the nation.
In addition to draining bank accounts, these scams involve “an unauthorized user gaining access to unlocked devices,” “making purchases with mobile financial applications,” and “using financial information from the applications to open new accounts.”
It’s a scary reality to think about in 2024, considering the number of consumers who use these apps quite often.
With the use of statistics and personal stories of financial hardship, Bragg urged the popular peer-to-peer payment apps to adopt and implement stricter security measures.
“No longer is the smartphone itself the most lucrative target for scammers and robbers – it’s the financial apps contained within,” District Attorney Bragg wrote. “Thousands or even tens of thousands can be drained from financial accounts in a matter of seconds with just a few taps.”
“Without additional protections, customers’ financial and physical safety is being put at risk. I hope these companies accept our request to discuss commonsense solutions to deter scammers and protect New Yorkers’ hard-earned money,” he added.
In the letters, he also noted that the “growing number of incidents in the New York City region involving fraud and theft through the exploitation of your company’s mobile financial applications on personal electronic devices such as iPhones.”
More specifically, “the ease with which offenders can collect five- and even six-figure windfalls in a matter of minutes is incentivizing a large number of individuals to commit these crimes, which are creating serious financial, and in some cases physical, harm to our residents.”
Despite the assurances of safety the companies promises users, theft is on the rise due to new ways of thieves using the app.
“In some instances, the fraudster asks to use an individual’s smartphone for personal use, and then quickly sends large amounts of money to themselves through the victim’s financial application. In other instances, the offender asks for a donation for a specific cause, offers to transfer the money directly from the victim’s smartphone, and then transfers significant funds to the fraudster’s own account,” Bragg wrote.
But, according to Bragg, “In all of these cases, further security measures to prevent unauthorized access to unlimited use of your financial services would have prevented such crimes.”
The problem has become a nationwide issue as in the past year there have been thefts stretching from Los Angeles, where several people were robbed of thousands of dollars through Venmo at knifepoint, to Orlando, where a woman had thousands drained from her Venmo after a child asked to use her phone. Similar thefts and robberies were publicly reported in West Virginia, Louisiana, Illinois, Kansas Tennessee, Virginia and elsewhere across the United States.
“I am concerned about the troubling rise in illegal behavior that has developed because of insufficient security measures connected with your software and business policy decisions,” Bragg wrote in his letters.
He is requesting meetings with the companies to discuss the steps they’re taking to combat the huge issue.
