Common Cash App Scams and How To Avoid Them

What is Cash App? And Why do Scammers Like Using It?

Cash App is a payments platform that allows you to send money to people just using their Cash App ID, called a  $cashtag. Anyone can create a free account and start sending and receiving money within just a few minutes. You can also search for users using their email address or phone number and even request payments from other users. 

While there are plenty of easy-to-use electronic payment tools out there, scammers tend to prefer Cash App for several reasons. Payments sent over Cash App are non-reversible, which is ideal for scammers. It means that if you realize you’ve been scammed, whether it’s within hours, days, or months, you’re powerless to get your money back. And unlike Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal, you have no buyer protection if you don’t receive the item you were promised. Additionally, you have no way of verifying who you are sending your money to on Cash App. 

Examples of Common Cash App Scams

At their core, Cash App scams involve someone (a stranger) trying to convince you to send money to them via the app. As a result, Cash App scams can come in many forms, and you have to be vigilant to the many ways they can present themselves. In this section, we’ll look at some of the most common Cash App scams. Scammers rely on you being unaware of what a scam looks like and trusting in their story – and some of these stories can be pretty convincing. The more you familiarize yourself with the anatomy of scams, the quicker you become at spotting them before you hand over your hard-earned cash. 

Cash App Flip Scam (Bait and Switch)

In the Cash App flip scam, you are typically contacted on social media by someone who claims to be a financial expert or “Professional Trader”. 

Let’s look at a scenario to see how the flip scam works. Suppose you’re browsing Instagram and write a comment on a popular post. The next thing you know, you get a message in your inbox from Mike, a professional trader who works at Charles Schwab. Mike tells you he can guarantee a ten-fold return on your investment within 24 hours under his investment plan. Now, you might be a little suspicious at this point – you don’t know Mike, and his offer sounds too good to be true. 

However, Mike is aware of your suspicions, so he tries to gain your trust by proving his investment scheme works. He asks you to send him a small amount of money, for example, $10, $5, or even $1, via Cash App, to test out the scheme. Now, you might be tempted to give Mike a chance. After all, what’s $5 in the grand scheme of things? Many people are happy to risk a small amount of money to see if something works. 

So, you decide to send Mike $5 to see if this really works. Within 24 hours, you get a pleasant surprise – Mike has sent you back $50. Now you trust Mike and have confidence in his abilities as a trader. This is when the scam gets dangerous. Mike now asks you to invest a much larger sum of money, for example, several hundred or even thousands of dollars, again promising you will see a 10Xs return in 24 hours. However, if you send this second payment, Mike will block you on Cash App, you won’t receive anything back, and your money will be lost forever. 

The above scenario is just one example of a Cash App flip scam, but the fraud can vary. Here are some other ways a flip scam can operate:

• The scammer disappears after you send the first payment. While some scammers will try to gain your trust, so you feel comfortable sending them a large sum of money, others are after a quick buck. Typically, all scams operate in one of two ways: either the scammer will invest more time and effort in one individual in the hope of a significant gain, or they will put in minimal effort but contact a large number of people. Scammers who disappear after the first payment are doing the latter. It’s a numbers game, and you’re just one of many potential victims. 
• After the first payment, you are contacted by a different individual who claims to be a colleague of ‘Mike’. This individual will say they have even better investment skills than Mike and can offer you a 12Xs return on your investment. Sometimes this individual is just ‘Mike’ posing as someone else. Other times, it really is one of Mike’s colleagues, only they don’t work at Charles Schwab (or any other reputable financial organization). Instead, they are members of a scamming syndicate that works to scam people and distribute the money between themselves. The purpose of this strategy is to exploit your excitement for making a significant return in the hopes that you’ll send even more money. 

Fraudulent Giveaways

Fraudulent giveaways are one of the most common Cash App scams. Essentially, the scammer will either exploit legitimate giveaways to target users and convince them to send over money or create an entirely fake giveaway. Here’s how it works:

Cash App often runs giveaways under the hashtags #CashAppFriday or #SuperCashAppFriday on Instagram on Twitter. Users share their story to enter the giveaway for a chance to win money. They also share their  $cashtag so they can get paid. Scammers will trawl the comments of these posts, looking for victims. They will then direct message that person and say something like, “congratulations, you have won the giveaway!”. 

Naturally, the recipient is very excited and wants to know how to claim their reward. This is where the scam comes in. The fraudster will try to convince the user to send them money by saying they need to verify their account is working, but they disappear once you send the money. 

In another version of this scam, users are asked to buy a gift card from a legitimate store like Amazon, PlayStation, Steam, or Walmart and send over the unique codes. Scammers claim this is necessary to ensure the winner can be trusted and is a real person. But once again, if you send over the gift card code, you’ll never hear from them again. Gift cards are excellent currency in the scammer’s world because they can’t be traced back to the scammer. 

Pet Deposit Scams

In this scam, someone will claim to have a new litter of adorable puppies or kittens that can soon be sold. They’ll tell you that you can get your hands on one of these cute puppies, but you need to send a deposit to secure the pet. Of course, these puppies don’t actually exist, and if you send the deposit, the scammer will disappear off the face of the Earth. 

Apartment and Home Rentals

This one works much like the pet deposit scam. You’ll be browsing Instagram or Twitter and find an attractive apartment for a cheap rate. Amazing, right? All you have to do is send a deposit to secure the deal, and you can start packing your bags and collecting paint samples. But, in reality, the scammer has just sourced random photos of an apartment from the internet and will take off with your money. 

Phishing Scams and Cash App Support Scams

In phishing scams, fraudsters will try to convince you to hand over your personal information, like your username and password. For example, they might pretend to be a representative of Cash App and claim there has been some suspicious activity on your account they need to look into. However, if you hand over your credentials, the fraudster will hijack your account and drain your funds. 

How to Avoid Cash App Scams

Protect Your Personal Information

Phishing scams don’t work if fraudsters can’t get ahold of your personal details. So be wary of how much you share online and whether what you do share can be leveraged by scammers. Additionally, never share your log-in information with anyone, even if they claim to be a Cash App representative. No one working at Cash App will ever ask for your sign-in code. 

Try To Avoid the Noise

In the section on flip scams, we discussed how some people hand over their money because they are tempted to see if grand promises of a lucrative return on investment work. Well, people who are interested in financial trading are particularly vulnerable to these scams. If you like investing, you are aware that there’s no guarantee you will make money. This is why some people refer to investing as “educated gambling”. If you already have the mindset that there’s no reward without risk, you’re more likely to take a risk. 

To avoid falling victim to this scam, try to avoid the noise and only accept risk in specific situations. Make investment decisions based on reputable sources and using reputable platforms, rather than trusting a stranger on Instagram. 

Do Your Due Diligence

Even if you’re confident you’re sending more to the right person, it’s a good idea to double-check everything before proceeding. To do this, you can work through this checklist:

• Only send money to people you know or to verified accounts. 
• Check the spelling on the $Cashtags. 
• Check the recipient’s email address or phone number for typos. 

Taking an extra few minutes before you hit send can save you a lot of stress in the long-run. 

Tighten Security on Your Account

To ensure a scammer can’t hijack your Cash App account, it’s best to opt-in to extra security. For example, we recommend enabling two-factor authentication, the Security Lock, and text notifications. This ensures that no payments can be sent without your passcode and that Cash App will notify you every time a payment is sent. 

How To Get Money Back on Cash App if Scammed

The first thing you need to do is report the fraud to Cash App using their Contact Support feature. The support teams may be able to help in getting your money back. However, many users have been unsuccessful in recovering their money. Why? Well, Cash App defines fraud as “a transaction you didn’t participate in” – for example, if a merchant overcharges you or if your account is stolen by a hacker who goes on a spending spree. This is annoying because, in most scams, you do authorize the transaction (you participated in it); they just tricked you. Hopefully, Cash App will update its policy on this in the future. 

Lastly, don’t feel ashamed if you’ve fallen victim to a Cash App scam. Fraudsters design these scams to hack the reward centers in your brain, and anyone can fall victim to a scam if it’s set up in the right way. Additionally, scammers continue to get away with these scams precisely because people are ashamed of telling their stories.