An apparent Venmo scam impacted one TikToker and now viewers are commiserating over shared experiences.
The original video has reached over 299,000 views, as some users say there’s now way to stop the scams from happening.
In the post, Caren Babaknia (@carenbabaknia) shared the story of receiving an odd Venmo request from a friend. The message explained she had forgotten her purse and needed $300 to finish a trip to the store.
@carenbabaknia @Venmo ♬ original sound – Caren Babaknia
“I was like, ‘This doesn’t sound like her.’ Also she never carries around a purse,” Babaknia said in the video. “So I was like, ‘Let me just text her.’”
When he texted his friend, she had no idea what he was talking about.
Babaknia took a closer look at the fake Venmo request and was shocked. The account didn’t just have the same profile image. It also had what appears to be the exact same Venmo username: @erinnicoleart.
Babaknia expressed that he was stunned someone could pull this off. He asked in the video, “How is someone copying the exact username?”
He also included in his caption “@venmo yo fix ur security?? “
One viewer, @paperstrawenthusiast, suggested on popular theory for how the usernames look identical. “The ‘L’ in cole might be an uppercase ‘i.’ Try copy pasting it in different fonts it’ll probably be the case,” they said.
Many TikTok users said the exact same Venmo scam happened to them.
@rooburney said, “OMG THIS HAPPENED TO ME”
@savannaromaya commented, “THIS HAPPENED TO ME SAME EXACT THING.”
@awris added, “TJIS [sic] HAPPENED TO ME (i was the friend) luckily everyone checked w me before sending.”
“This happened to me but they were only requesting like $20 for “gas” and like 5 or 6 people actually did it., shared @kittkattkaitt.
“My roommate and I both fell for this and lost $300 lmao” added @oldgreggggg.
Some users claimed there is no way to stop this kind of Venmo scam.
@repetytion said, “not much security will fix phising attempts lol i dont know how u want them to stop this.”
@a.alejandr00 added, “This has nothing to do with venmo security. it’s impersonation and will always be an issue for all apps. it’s on u to know how to not fall for these.”
Venmo did not immediately return a request for comment and the Daily Dot reached out to Babaknia via Instagram direct message.