CFPB Fines CashApp $175 Million for Allegedly Mishandling Fraud Claims

If you lost money to scammers or had your account frozen on a popular peer-to-peer payment platform, you might be due for a refund.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined Cash App and its parent company, Block, $175 million Thursday for how it handled customer fraud complaints during the pandemic era. The bureau said instead of properly investigating cases where users reported fraud, Cash App directed them to ask the banks whose accounts were linked to Cash App to reverse the transactions.

“Cash App created the conditions for fraud to proliferate on its popular payment platform,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “When things went wrong, Cash App flouted its responsibilities and even burdened local banks with problems that the company caused.”

Of the fine, $120 million will go to customers and $55 million to a victim relief fund set up by the bureau.

The bureau said customers who never received the refunds they deserved, didn’t have their complaints investigated, or had their accounts frozen will receive payment without having to take any action.

The company denied wrongdoing and said it changed its customer service practices from 2019 through 2023, the period covered by the lawsuit.

“While we strongly disagree with the CFPB’s mischaracterizations, we made the decision to settle this matter in the interest of putting it behind us and focusing on what’s best for our customers and our business,” Block said in a press release.

The bureau said the company failed to set up adequate safeguards against scammers and failed to properly investigate cases where users reported unauthorized funds transfers. For years, the bureau said that the company did not even have a functioning customer service phone number; it was just a recorded message directing callers to use the app.