Recently, Oklahoma Sooners quarterback John Mateer made headlines when someone found his Venmo account and claimed he marked transactions with gambling on college football games. Mateer denies the accusations and says it was a joke. Whether or not his transactions meant anything, the story highlights a much bigger issue: how easy it is for strangers to see what you are doing on Venmo.
When you send or receive money on Venmo, your payments might be visible to anyone, even people who are not connected to you. This happens because Venmo’s default setting for transactions is “Public.” That means anyone can see the note you add, the person you are paying, and when the payment happened.
While the amount of money is not shown, the details can still reveal a lot. Scammers watch these public feeds looking for clues. If they see you paid for a manicure, they can impersonate that business and send you a fake request for payment. They might also use the information to spam you with offers or attempt to trick you into sending money. And remember, they can see the transactions even if you are not connected to them on Venmo.
Fortunately, stopping this is simple. In the Venmo app, tap “Settings,” then “Privacy,” and change your default audience to “Private.” This means only you and the person you are paying will see the transaction.
There is also an option to make all past transactions private with just a few taps, hiding your payment history from strangers. While you are updating your privacy settings, it is also smart to hide your friends list. You can even hide yourself from other people’s friends lists, which makes it harder for anyone to piece together who you are connected to and how.
Venmo says the public setting is meant to create a social network for friends. But unless you enjoy broadcasting your payment activity to the entire internet, there is no reason for every transaction to be visible. Taking a minute to change these settings keeps your payments between you and the person you are paying and makes it harder for scammers to find a way in.
It is also worth passing this tip along to your children or anyone you know who uses Venmo but may not realize the setting exists. With about 92 million people regularly using the app to pay for everything from babysitting to splitting rent, it is likely someone you care about could be exposing more than they think.
Finally, for an extra layer of protection, lock the Venmo app with Face ID or your phone’s biometric security. That way, even if someone gets their hands on your phone, they cannot open Venmo without your approval.