Venmo wants my private messages to release my money
I had a noteworthy experience with Venmo recently, thought I publish it somewhere.
Like the average Venmo user (Think about them as an Internet only bank) I use the service for sending money to my friends and family. I need to pay my wife periodically for things and I made my last payment like this:
Venmo stopped the transaction and not supersizing “Iran” is the word that triggered their alarm.
49 years ago, young, susceptible students riding hot off of a revolution forced themselves into US embassy and took US diplomats and citizen hostage for more than a year. Crazy stuff. US understandably has put Iran on financial embargo ever since.
Venmo as money company should follow the law but how they go about it leaves a lot to be desired:
- Their “security measure” (their word not mine. Appears to be a regex.) gets triggered by one word which is a country home to 83 million. What if I'm paying for Iranian candy? Iranian food or the wonderful Irani rug?
- They asked for my private messages to prove if in fact is innocent
Venmo causally asking for my private messages to process grocery money is appalling to me. I have so many previous transactions with my wife before, they don't need to see my messages to come to a conclusion, have all the records they might need already. I have a right to privacy, wonderfully stated by amendment IV of the constitution and of course I didn't provide Venmo with anything conversation. (Constitution is one major reason why this country is great).
Venmo seizes your money if you put Iran in it's note.
Giving up a lot of control for a little convenience might not be greatest idea. I plan to use cash more now.