August 2018 Complaint Roundup: Watch Out For These Square Cash App Customer Support Scams

What Are Other Merchants Saying?

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© Depositphotos – James Steidl
Here at CPO, we review every comment that we receive from our readers, and sometimes we see merchants mention a topic that isn't covered in our reviews. To help you stay on top of the trends and issues in the credit card processing industry, we've gathered the following merchant complaints posted to CPO during July and August. If you would like to respond or add your thoughts to any of these comments, please follow the links to the original comments and reply to them directly, or leave a comment of your own below the appropriate company's review.


Square Cash Users Are Getting Scammed

Over the past few months, we have received multiple complaints below our Square Cash review that describe two separate Cash app customer support scams. Here are a few descriptions of the first scam, which involves Google Play prepaid cards.

Here's Rosa's July 7 complaint:

i have a question to anyone that may have had an issue that i am having with square cash. 175 was to be deposited into my checking by the end of the day on Friday july 6. after waiting all day i called square cash spoke with eric he said that there was a problem with the sever however he could process a refund that would take about 120 days because the amount had to be over 300.00 before they would be able to do a refund the same day. Per eric i needed to go and buy a google play card for a 125.00 to make up the total of 300.00 and he would guarantee i would have the total of 300.00 within a couple of hours. This was around 6 yesterday. Stupid me i did as requested in fact eric call me twice while i was in walmart. i came home and called him gave him the needed information from the per paid card

after about 3 hrs i call back he was gone for the day but i was guaranteed that my money was on it way.
as of 8 am this morning i still do not have my money. now when i talk to eric he said that my cashme out account had been compromised and he could not place any money in to that account.

please read what i am about to say very closely they now want me to give them an additional 200.00 and i would be refunded a total of 500.00 i yelled at him and told him there is no way i am going to give them one dime more i would be filing a complaint on monday with the US Trade commissions and the New York attorney general he said good luck and hung up but call me back to see if i
changed my mind. i know this sounds made up but all is true as far as i can tell square cash is a legitimate company. I think there maybe people who are scamming customers. possible without the company knowledge

And Beri's July 27 complaint:

sent to Cash App: I have tried to get ahold of you guys multiple times. What you are doing is wrong.

I am business owner my client used her cash app card at my business. I refunded her, her money. That was July 20th. It has not been sent back to her back. What is going? How can her money just be floating around in cyberspace?
Why is there no number to call you. You need to hire people and be professional this is a money transaction site.
–Now This is what happened to me since your company is not doing what it should in terms of having a customer service line. Your “emails” are not cutting it.

So ultimately what happened to me was I found a “Cash App” contact number and spent 4 hours on the phone trying to figure out where my clients money is. “You” asked me for my credit card information, was told I need to put $350 on a google play card and that once it was received my client would receive the $650 owed and in addition the $350.00. Well they never put any money back. So “Cash App” stole from me. Also I then started to notice that money was taken out of my personal cash app account without my consent and my banking accounts were completely depleted. So now my personal banking accounts are at 0. There were over $3,000 that was wrongly taken out!!!!!

I need you to refund my clients money of $650.00. I also would like to be compensated for you not having a phone number and me having been forced to call a fake number because you don’t have one. This is crazy. I will be reporting you to bbb and the FTC, and posting negative reviews across the internet. I will also take legal action if this is not dealt with.

And Ashley Lynn Robinson's August 1 complaint:

The Same thing happened to me they got 357 dollars out of me had me purchase a Google play card and cash app still haven’t investigated it’s been 2 weeks cash app said that they are a we’re of this but the haven’t warned customers are paid me back

And Tip's August 13 complaint:

I recently tried using my cas app are for a transaction and it denied it in which I had the funds on the card. I called cash app support & they responded saying Amy account has been hacked & informed the to go to a local Walgreens and purchase a $50 Google card and give them the14 digits off back to unlock my card. I responded no I will not purchase a card to get my own funds I will go to the nearest police station. After that conversation my card started to work. I felt as if it was an employee that was trying to hack my account.

How Does This Square Cash Scam Work?

It appears that scammers are posting fake Square Cash customer service phone numbers that appear in Google search results. When Square Cash users try to contact Square Cash, they find these fake customer service phone numbers and call the scammers instead. The scammers are smart enough to know that Square is notorious for holding funds, so they can expect that Square Cash users are calling about their frozen funds. The scammers then pose as Square Cash and tell the Cash app users that they should send in a Google Play prepaid card in the amount of the held fund to get the full amount released.

Be aware: no payment processor should ever ask you to send in a prepaid card in order to secure the release of a withheld transaction.

While researching this scam, we searched Google for “cash app support phone number” to see what these merchants might have seen. Here are the results we saw:

Cash App Support Google Search
Cash App Support Google Search

The first few results are legitimate Square customer support contact options. However, Square Cash does not provide a public customer support number for users to call. This means that users who visit the Square Cash support site in search of a phone number are likely to leave. Instead, they might click on the search results that are further down on the page, from websites like Eventbrite.com, TripAdvisor.com, and MarketWatch.com. None of these websites are affiliated with Square, and most of them have nothing to do with payment processing. In fact, we took a look at an archived version of the first EventBrite result just to see what was listed:

Square Cash Support Eventbrite Listing
Square Cash Support Eventbrite Listing

This is a blank post. It has nothing to do with Square. Its only purpose is to appear high up on result pages for Google searches about Square Cash, and it appears that the people who make these posts delete and re-post them to Eventbrite every day. Do not fall for this.

Another Square Cash Support Scam

As we mentioned above, we have received reports of two different scams preying on Square Cash users. The second is described in the following complaints.

Here's Stephany Hasberry's July 24 comment:

Tried to cash out and someone took the money from my account first and then made it look a deposit, so really it was a wash. They took the money. I was unable to get thorough on email..found a phone number and the person on the other end wanted control of my device. When I refused, he told me to go fuck myself. A friend of mine has had 3,000 taken from her with no resolve to date! Huge scam

And Yvette's June 29 comment:

DO NOT USE CASH APP!!! if your money doesn’t go through you will never see it again!!! and there is absolutely no one to call!!!

DO NOT CALL THE CASH APP SUPPORT NUMBERS ON GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINES!! They are scammers, looking to remote onto your computer to steal even more from you!

This scam appears to operate in a very similar fashion to the Google Play prepaid card scam. In this case, though, the scammers pose as Square Cash and offer to fix your issue by remotely accessing your computer. This is an extremely dangerous type of scam. Once you let someone remotely access your computer, it is possible for them to steal all of your personal data. A payment processor should never ask for remote access to your device.

We Hold Square Partly Accountable

It is important to note that Square has no affiliation with these customer support scams. These are opportunistic third parties who are taking advantage of Square's large user base and poor customer support options. However, it seems obvious that these merchants would be less likely to contact unverified third parties about their withheld funds if they had access to prompt, reliable phone support. Square's poor customer support policies are the main reason why neither Square nor Square Cash has an “A” rating on CPO. These reports certainly don't improve our view of the company.

Here is a list of all of the official ways to contact Square and Square Cash.


Your Sales Agent Can't Save You

Jay Hatcher's August 8 comment on our Red Payments review states the following:

This company is highly unethical. I original signed up as a reseller to add another offering to my clients. I should have done far more research on research on Rep Payments. Their “sales manager” Alphonso is a fast, slick talker and after completing an application with one of my clients alarm bells started ringing immediately. To protect my client as best as possible I completed the rates in the contract based on the quote Red Payments prepared for them. I had a feeling they would insert different rates than what the quote was based on. I also did not have my client complete the lease section. After sending in the paperwork without my client inserting his SS# they still activated his account. Right then and there I knew they were Boiler Room wannabes that didn’t care about their clients or resellers. I immediately had my client cancel their service and return the equipment within the 30 day time period. Red Payments is still deducting money from the client and of course customer service nor Alphonso have replied to my emails or calls about refunds and ensuring the service is cancelled. Total frauds. run as fast away as you can.

If Jay is to be believed, then he really did try to give his merchant the best deal he could. Unfortunately, even the best intentions are no match for the ironclad contract terms in the merchant services industry. This is an important lesson for merchants to understand: once your sales agent hands in your merchant account application, they have very little control over what happens to your account. A processor acting in bad faith can execute the contract more or less however they want, and it's up to you to take them to court over extreme allegations such as forgery. If you've been suckered into a bad deal, you should still ask your agent to see what they can do. If their hands are tied, however, you should either consult a third-party fee reduction service or cancel the merchant account.


Watch Out For Old Accounts

Kari Layland's July 20 complaint on our SecurePay review states the following:

I had been using securepay to process credit cards for my small business. In 2013 they closed my account and opened a new account, supposedly with better terms than my previous account. As a busy business owner I hadn’t been watching my account as carefully as I should have, but recently I noticed that there were PCI fees being taken from my checking account 3 times a month on a monthly basis in the amounts of $59, $15 and $15. $89 a month for the past 2 years.

This didn’t seem right to me, since I had been completing the PCI compliance forms quarterly as required to stay pci compliant. So I contacted securepay and was informed that these fees were charged based on my account that was CLOSED in 2013. They claim that I logged in to the closed account and attempted to process a card, which I according to them, jump starts billing to the closed account. I never requested to re open this account and was not notified that there would be new charges.

For 2 years at this rate that’s over $2000 that was taken from my account, without my consent, from an OLD account who’s contract is no longer valid. So you’d think they’d apologize for their mistake and refund my money right? No, they refused to return any of the funds that were basically stolen from my account beyond 60 days. They drained $2136 from my account over 2 years (if my numbers are accurate) and have offered to refund $150 of it.

Their reason being I didn’t tell them soon enough. Be aware of this company and watch your bank account. They can’t be trusted and are unwilling to do what is right even knowing they are in the wrong.

This is a rare occurrence in the credit card processing industry, but it is something we still see from time to time. If you process a payment through a previously closed merchant account or through payment processing software such as a virtual terminal, the provider will usually take that as a green light to resume billing you. And, predictably, most providers won't go out of their way to let you know that they've started charging you again. Any time you cancel a merchant account and move on to a better-rated provider, be sure to return or reprogram all equipment and delete all software from the devices used with the previous processor. After all, you never know when an unsuspecting employee could use the wrong login information and rope you into another payment period.


Some Good Advice From a Fellow Business Owner

Boaty McBoat Face's July 17 comment on our Retail Merchant Services review states the following:

Fortunately I’m one of the lucky ones who managed to get out of my contract early on however I still read the reviews and horror stories and can’t believe that this company continues to treat people like this. From my own research I’m not aware of a single case where RMS have taken a customer to court so treat any threat with the contempt it deserves – they are simply bullies. Stick to your guns and work on the basis that the contract was mis-sold to you. Don’t attempt to speak to anyone at RMS by telephone and don’t bother with emails. Demand that all correspondence is in writing and make sure you send letters to them by Recorded Delivery. Copy in all correspondence to the actual card provider, in my case Elavon, and also copy in your local Trading Standards office and Milton Keynes Trading Standards.
The effort is worth it – believe me.
Good luck.

Although Boaty is writing about a UK-based payment processor, this advice is practical on any continent. Demanding all correspondence in writing and using registered mail are two great ways to create a paper trail to protect you in the event of a legal dispute. Some processors in the U.S. (such as Northern Leasing Systems) are bloodthirsty enough to take merchants to court, so it's especially important that you document everything and send copies to the proper authorities. You can also create pressure on a provider acting in bad faith by following the appropriate steps for reporting a bad credit card processor.

Have you had an experience that you would like to share with these commenters? Reply to their comments and you may be featured in next month's complaint roundup!

Reader Comments

Tell Us What You Think

5 User Reviews

  • NCA

    Cash App is a total Scam. Verified my account instantly using wellsfargo. Verified my email. Sent and invoice to two customer and it “failed ” twice between two customers. I received emails from cashapp stating the transaction failed for your protection. Customer Service sent a reply to my.email saying “it looks like your account is verified. ” not a very good reply. Now my customers say there bank told them it was fraud, assuming my company is a fraud. Opened a Square Account and the bank account was verified, then went to Activate the Square Master Card, the funds disappeared. Then received an email stating my Square Account was suspended. None of these merchant accounts work after two transaction, same with Venmo, verified didn’t even use the account within 24 hours received an email saying account suspended. Wow, I will never use any of them again. There all BS, and No Customer Support, Gpay did the same crap, gpay chat is BS with people just reading from a script.

  • Azeez

    don’t normally do transactions thought anything except my bank.
    I just read a complaints similar to mine. So I have been scammed of $4000. This means cash app itself is a scam. I
    All I did was try to send $500 to a merchant through cash app. The transaction was declined for my “protection” and refund had been issued and would be returned to my account is 3 business days. After that I did not receive my refund.

    I tried to contact CashApp to no avail. I looked on Google and found 855 number and they answered. And indeed they worked through my cash app and gave me specific info. This is why I believed them.

    In order for me to get my $500 refund I must buy Google play card for $500 which I did. After that they said because I live in New York minimum is $1500 which means additional $500 gift card which I did. Then they started giving excuses after I didn’t receive my refund that CashApp doesn’t allow them to deposit money. And in order to get it through their direct processing I would need to buy another Google card for $1000. I was furious. I contacted police, filled FTC, filled Google complaints. Police didn’t help one bit. They were just blaming me. These guys in the other end go by name John Jose and Joseph Suri. They access my computer to do this process. I believe them until the last minute even after I contacted police. They told me that many people filled FTC cases against them but it didn’t work. I also learned that CashApp doesn’t have customer support number which I told these guys but they denied. I did speak to cash all through email but they can care less about the missing $500. They showed no empathy. Instead they told me that my file is closed. Clearly CashApp square CashApp is very much responsible for lapses. They are very poor organization and they need to shut down. This is not how to handle business. We talking about hard earned money. I have been reading complaints about Square cash before I found myself into this but they aren’t specific as much as I read here. Complaints on this site are very similar to mine. This prove that I was scammed and I have no way of getting my money back. Difficult to prove. I have bunch of Google gift cards as my only evidence. Bank refunded only $500 transaction lost in CashApp database. Anyways I’m expecting $4000 refund since Monday February president day and the following day I called Joseph Suri and John Jose but their number doesn’t work all day.

    Cash app square Cash must be fined heavily. They allowed these scammers to scan people. They are not partly responsible but fully responsible.

    This post will help: How to Contact Square

    • Darcy Olivarez

      I was just scammed today. my whole Cash App account disappeared and my $417.65 disappeared. the only way I can contact Cash App is through email so I’m still waiting on a response back but after reading everybody’s comments I feel like I won’t be seeing any of my money!! Today my card was declined so of course I Google Cash App how to talk to a representative and A phone number appears so I dial it not paying attention to the other comments that were on google. some man answered with an Indian accent he told me my account was frozen and he had to verify my identity so he was going to text me a code and we did again I didn’t pay attention so I gave him the code and then he said he needed to verify my pin number and I gave him my PIN number. I was not putting it all together that he was getting my information so he can open up my Cash App account. He then told me he had to create a new account for me but he had to verify my identity so he wanted me to give him names of people that were on my Cash App. so I gave them my son and daughter information and we did a three-way and then he was asking for their information so they can be identified as well he did the same thing to them as he did to me my son is out $800 from his bank and luckily my daughter did not give her account info. this has been a nightmare!!

  • Azeez

    don’t normally do transactions thought anything except my bank.
    I just read a complaints similar to mine. So I have been scammed of $4000. This means cash app itself is a scam. I
    All I did was try to send $500 to a merchant through cash app. The transaction was declined for my “protection” and refund had been issued and would be returned to my account is 3 business days. After that I did not receive my refund.

    I tried to contact CashApp to no avail. I looked on Google and found 855 number and they answered. And indeed they worked through my cash app and gave me specific info. This is why I believed them.

    In order for me to get my $500 refund I must buy Google play card for $500 which I did. After that they said because I live in New York minimum is $1500 which means additional $500 gift card which I did. Then they started giving excuses after I didn’t receive my refund that CashApp doesn’t allow them to deposit money. And in order to get it through their direct processing I would need to buy another Google card for $1000. I was furious. I contacted police, filled FTC, filled Google complaints. Police didn’t help one bit. They were just blaming me. These guys in the other end go by name John Jose and Joseph Suri. They access my computer to do this process. I believe them until the last minute even after I contacted police. They told me that many people filled FTC cases against them but it didn’t work. I also learned that CashApp doesn’t have customer support number which I told these guys but they denied. I did speak to cash all through email but they can care less about the missing $500. They showed no empathy. Instead they told me that my file is closed. Clearly CashApp square CashApp is very much responsible for lapses. They are very poor organization and they need to shut down. This is not how to handle business. We talking about hard earned money. I have been reading complaints about Square cash before I found myself into this but they aren’t specific as much as I read here. Complaints on this site are very similar to mine. This prove that I was scammed and I have no way of getting my money back. Difficult to prove. I have bunch of Google gift cards as my only evidence. Bank refunded only $500 transaction lost in CashApp database. Anyways I’m expecting $4000 refund since Monday February president day and the following day I called Joseph Suri and John Jose but their number doesn’t work all day.

    Cash app square Cash must be fined heavily. They allowed these scammers to scan people. They are not partly responsible but fully responsible.


    This post will help: How to Contact Square

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