milwaukee – Convenient but dangerous. A Milwaukee woman describes the app that many people have on their phones:
Karen Brimley-Massey says the expansion of digital wallets has made money less secure. Early one morning in mid-October, Brimley-Massey received several warnings that her own money was being withdrawn from her Cash App account.
“My phone just started ringing,” said Brimley-Massey. “$200. $200. $200 out of my account.”
Brimley-Massey says she lost over $2,000 in her Cash App account. Hackers targeted money in a savings account linked to the app after she depleted her Cash App balance, she says. Her credit union eventually blocked her transaction.
Brimley-Massey said the money was transferred to a fake Cash App profile created using her daughter’s name and photo.
“They misspelled their name. There was a picture pulled from Facebook or something,” said Brimley-Massey.
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Brimley-Massey says she got the app because she thought it would make her life easier.
“For my daughters, to send money conveniently,” said Brimley Massey.
Brimley-Massey tried to get her money back, but Cash App told her in an email, “This transaction has been authorized by you or someone you authorized…your dispute has been resolved.”
“I would never allow it,” Brimley-Massey said.
According to the Pew Research Center, more than three-quarters of Americans have used a payment app or website like PayPal, Cash App, Venmo or Zelle at least once. But his one-third of these users report little or no confidence that their personal information is protected from hackers.
13% of people who have used PayPay, Cash App, Zelle or Venmo said they sent money to someone and later discovered it was a scam. A similar amount, 11%, reported their accounts were hacked.
Khaled Sabha is a senior lecturer at the UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies. He said payment apps are convenient and fast, but they come with risks. Money mistakenly transferred through the app is usually lost forever.
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“I’m not saying don’t use these apps, I’m saying: Use these apps in a safe way,” said Sabha.
Sabha said he double-checks who the recipient is before approving a transaction. When finished using the app, log out. Also, connect your account to a credit card, not a bank account, even if the app charges a fee.
“Credit card companies are good at preventing fraud,” said Sabha.
Cash App told Contact 6 it could not comment on individual cases. I have sent a link to the support page to Contact 6. This page provides tips such as sending money only to people you trust and double-checking your recipient’s information.
Brimley-Massey is closing their Cash App account. She also lost stocks and bitcoins she had purchased through the app.
“There’s no safety net, nothing to protect you,” said Brimley-Massey.
Cash App appears to have reopened her case, but Brimley-Massey says her last email to Cash App went unanswered.
