Venmo Hacked? What to Do Right Now to Protect Your Money

If your Venmo was hacked, secure the email account and phone number linked to it first, then open the official Venmo app (or type Venmo’s web address yourself), reset your password and sign out of other devices. Next, remove any bank account, card, email or phone number you don’t recognize, report each payment you didn’t make through Venmo’s in-app help, and call your bank or card issuer using the number on your card or its official app.

Venmo moves money between people in seconds, so speed matters. This guide walks through the order to work in, what to check once you’re back in, and the scams that often follow a Venmo scare.

Signs your Venmo account has been hacked

• Payments you didn’t send, often to strangers, sometimes a small test payment first and a larger one soon after.
• Transfers out of your Venmo balance to a bank account or card you don’t recognize.
• Emails or texts from Venmo about a new device, password change or new email address you didn’t make.
• Sign-in codes arriving that you didn’t request. Someone may be trying to log in with your password.
• Your password stops working, or the app suddenly signs you out.
• Friends asking about requests or payments that came from your account.

Check the alert is real before acting on it. Fake Venmo texts and emails are a common phishing lure. Don’t tap a link in a message. Open the app yourself and look at your activity and settings there.

Step 1: Secure your email and phone number

Venmo’s password resets and sign-in codes go to your email and phone. If an attacker controls either one, they can take the account back after you fix it.

1. Check your email account. Change its password, turn on two-step verification and look for forwarding rules or filters that hide messages from Venmo or your bank. Our guide for when an email account is hacked covers this for every major provider.
2. Check your phone service. If your phone suddenly has no signal, call your carrier from another phone. A SIM swap lets a criminal receive your text codes. Ask the carrier to add an account PIN or port-out protection.

Step 2: Get back into Venmo and lock it down

If you can still sign in, go to the security settings in the app and work through this list.

1. Change your password to a long one you have never used anywhere else.
2. Check your email and phone number. Remove anything that isn’t yours and make sure your own details are current.
3. Review remembered devices and remove any you don’t own, if your settings show them.
4. Turn on a PIN or biometric lock for the app, so someone holding your unlocked phone can’t open Venmo straight away.
5. Check your privacy setting. If your transactions are public, consider making them private. A public feed shows scammers who you pay and when.

If you can’t sign in, use the “forgot password” option on the real sign-in screen. If the attacker changed your email and phone, contact Venmo through the help center on its official site or in the app and explain that your account was taken over. They’ll verify your identity before giving access back. There’s no fee to recover a Venmo account.

Step 3: Check linked banks, cards and activity

Once you’re in, look at everything an attacker could have used to move money in or out.

Area	What to look for	What to do
Transaction history	Payments, requests and transfers you didn’t make	Screenshot each one with the date, amount and recipient
Banks and cards	A new bank or card added, or one of yours removed	Remove unknown ones; tell your bank about any of yours that were charged
Venmo balance	Transfers out to an account you don’t recognize	Report them to Venmo as unauthorized
Venmo debit or credit card	Card purchases you didn’t make	Lock or replace the card from the app and report the charges
Connected businesses	Merchants or apps allowed to charge your Venmo	Remove anything you don’t use
Profile details	Changed name, username, photo or address	Restore your own details

Step 4: Report unauthorized payments and call your bank

Report every payment you didn’t make through the help section of the Venmo app or site, and choose the option for unauthorized activity or a compromised account. Include the screenshots and a short, factual description of what happened and when you noticed.

Then contact your bank or card issuer, using the number on the back of your card or the bank’s own app. Tell them which Venmo transfers or charges you didn’t authorize, and ask whether they recommend a new card or extra monitoring. In the US, federal rules on electronic fund transfers generally favor people who report unauthorized transfers promptly, so don’t wait to see whether more payments appear.

Be realistic about one thing. A payment you didn’t make at all is treated very differently from a payment you sent yourself because someone tricked you. Venmo is designed for paying people you know and trust, and money sent to a scammer is often hard to get back once it has left your account. Report it anyway, to Venmo and your bank, and keep your records. Just don’t count on a refund.

Step 5: Look beyond Venmo

• Change any password you reused, starting with your email, bank and PayPal. Venmo is owned by PayPal, and attackers often try the same password on both. Our guide for a PayPal account hacked covers that side.
• Warn friends who received odd payment requests from you, by text or call rather than through Venmo.
• Watch for identity misuse. Venmo holds your name, phone and bank details. If you see new accounts opened in your name, report it at IdentityTheft.gov, the FTC’s official site, and consider a free credit freeze. Our guide on what to do if your identity is stolen covers the full sequence.

For the general checklist that applies to every platform, see our hub on what to do when your account was hacked.

A worked example

This scenario is illustrative, not a real client. Jonah gets a text that says “Venmo: your account is on hold, verify now” with a link. He taps it, enters his email and password on a page that looks right, then types in the sign-in code that arrives by text. Twenty minutes later, two payments of a few hundred dollars leave his account for a stranger.

1. He opens his email provider directly, changes the password and turns on two-step verification. He finds no forwarding rules, so the attacker only had his Venmo password and the one code.
2. He opens the Venmo app, changes his password and finds a new email address on his profile. He removes it and signs out of other devices.
3. He reports both payments as unauthorized through the app’s help section and attaches screenshots of the phishing text.
4. He calls his bank using the number in its app, reports the transfers from his linked account and asks for extra monitoring.
5. He changes the same password on two shopping sites where he’d reused it, sets his Venmo transactions to private and turns on the app’s PIN lock.

The code he typed into the fake page was the key mistake. Venmo’s real sign-in codes are only ever entered into the real app or site, never on a page you reached from a text.

Scams that follow a Venmo hack

After a takeover, people are anxious and searching for help, which is exactly when a second scam lands.

• Fake support lines. A search result or social post offers a “Venmo support” number. The person who answers asks for your sign-in code or asks you to send money to a “safe” account.
• “Accidental” payments. A stranger sends you money and asks you to send it back. If their payment was funded with a stolen card, it can be reversed, and you’re left out of pocket. Contact Venmo instead of sending money back yourself.
• Recovery services. Anyone offering to recover your account or your money for a fee is almost always running another scam. Recovery only happens through Venmo and your bank.
• Buyer and seller scams. Paying strangers for goods through personal payments carries real risk. Our guide to Facebook Marketplace scams explains the common patterns.

Common mistakes

• Fixing Venmo before your email or phone. The attacker can reset the account again.
• Calling a number from a search ad or text. Use the help section in the official app or site.
• Waiting to report. Delays can weaken your position with both Venmo and your bank.
• Leaving an unknown bank or card linked. That lets money keep moving after you change your password.
• Reading out a code to anyone. A code is only for the screen you’re signing in on.

How to keep Venmo secure

• Use a unique password stored in a password manager.
• Keep the app’s PIN or biometric lock turned on, and set a strong passcode on your phone.
• Turn on notifications for every payment so you see anything unusual straight away.
• Set transactions to private and only pay people you know.
• Check whether your email appears in known breaches with Have I Been Pwned.
• If you no longer use Venmo, close it once everything is resolved. Our guide on how to delete a Venmo account explains the steps.

If a hacker used your account to send messages or requests that damaged your name with friends, clients or your community, our personal reputation management team can help with the cleanup.

Frequently asked questions

How do I contact Venmo if my account was hacked?

Use the help section inside the official Venmo app or on Venmo’s website, which you should type in yourself. Don’t call numbers from search ads, texts, emails or social media replies, since fake support lines are a common scam.

Will Venmo refund money a hacker sent from my account?

It depends on the circumstances and Venmo’s user agreement. Payments you didn’t authorize are handled differently from payments you were tricked into sending. Report unauthorized activity through the app quickly, tell your bank, and keep screenshots of every transaction.

Can someone hack Venmo without my password?

Usually they need your password plus access to a sign-in code, or control of your unlocked phone. That’s why phishing pages ask for both, and why securing your email, your phone number and your phone’s passcode matters as much as the Venmo password itself.

Should I delete Venmo after it was hacked?

Not until any unauthorized payments are reported and resolved, since closing early can make that harder. Once the account is secure and settled, close it if you no longer need it.