3 Things to Know to Avoid Fake Cash App Balance Screenshots

Written By Adrian Volenik

Cash App is used by tens of millions of people and is a treasure trove for scammers. The number of people who fell for a scam on Cash App and lost their money must be in tens of thousands. 

It’s good to educate yourself about various scams that are going around financial apps. Today, we’re taking a closer look at the fake Cash App balance screenshot scam. How and why it happens, how scammers get the screenshots, etc.

Fake Cash App balance screenshot is a common scam that’s been doing the rounds for a long time now and isn’t exclusive to Cash App. By sending you a fake balance screenshot, scammers are trying to fool you into thinking that the payment is either pending, wasn’t successful, or was successful. 

As you can see, the scenarios are different depending on the situation you found yourself in. 

However, you should never trust any screenshot that a stranger sent you as they can be easily manipulated and you can easily find yourself with less money than you had a moment ago.

How do Scammers Use Fake Cash App Balance Screenshots? (3 Ways)

how do scammers use fake cash app balance screenshots

Scammers can use a fake Cash App balance screenshot in various ways. However, they most often use it to fool you into thinking that they’ve sent you money when they actually haven’t.

Why would they do that? To get money out of you, of course. There are a couple of scenarios that will play out here. 

1. Payment Pending

In one of them, a scammer will pretend to be a “sugar daddy” and offer to send you some money, just like that.

They might offer to send you only a hundred dollars, but significant sums of several thousands of dollars are also not out of the question. 

They’ll ask for your $cashtag or other details to send you the money. After you comply, they’ll supposedly send the money. To confirm it, they’ll send you a fake Cash App screenshot that “proves” that the money is on its way.

To get the deposit, all you have to do is send over $50 or even up to a $500 clearance fee for whatever reason they come up with. 

It could be that Cash App demands it because your account isn’t verified, their bank needs this clearance fee, or some of the numerous other reasons. 

Once you send over the first payment, they’ll usually ask for another, and another, and another, until you give up and realize that it’s a scam. 

They know that you’re more likely to send even more money once you send the first payment due to the so-called sunk-cost fallacy. 

That virtually means that you’re reluctant to abandon a course of action because you’ve already invested heavily in it, even when it is evident that abandonment would benefit you.

Under the pretext of a payment pending, they might make it look like your Cash App isn’t verified, and that’s why the money can’t be transferred successfully. 

To verify your account, “all” they need is your bank account details and other similar information that will compromise your bank account and “relieve” you of your money.

2. Failed Payment

Another use of a fake Cash App balance screenshot is to prove that the money you sent, for example, if you bought goods or services from them, wasn’t completed successfully. 

In that case, they’ll ask you to kindly send the money again and de facto get the money twice (or even more times, if you’re extra gullible). In return, they won’t even send you the promised goods and might even send you a brick in the package.

3. Successful Payment

A variation of this scam is that the scammers use the fake Cash App balance screenshot to prove that they sent money to your account by mistake. In this case, they’re asking you to return it to their account kindly.

They could use threats, including law enforcement and other coercion tactics, to basically force you into returning the money that was in reality never transferred to your account. 

However, sometimes, this scam happens for real. What I mean is that they send you real money, without even using the fake screenshot. In this case, the money they sent to your Cash App account comes from stolen credit cards.

READ NEXT: The 6 Digital Banks With Overdraft

After you send the money back to them, they will ask for a chargeback from their bank, making you lose money twice – the original sum sent by scammers and the money that you willingly transferred to them. 

How do Scammers Create Fake Cash App Balance Screenshots?

It’s incredibly easy to create any kind of screenshot these days and make it look indistinguishable from the real thing. All you need is Photoshop, or apps such as Quick Receipt, Billdu, and Cash Receipt.

However, scammers are also trying to get a Cash App balance screenshot from random people like you or me to get them to send them their Cash App balance screenshot in return for a gift, etc. 

This is also a scam in itself because they can get more details from your screenshot than you realize. Even if you edit a screenshot to censor your sensitive data, they can strip the edits in some cases. 

How To Know the Difference Between Real and Fake Cash App Balance Screenshot?

In most cases, you won’t notice a difference between a real and a fake Cash App balance screenshot. And you don’t have to. There’s an easy solution – don’t trust ANY Cash App balance screenshot as the best way of telling if the transaction went through is to look in your Cash App.

That way, you aren’t getting exposed to scammers trying to pull a fast one on you. 

How to Avoid Cash App Scams?

how to avoid cash app scams

Cash App payments are instant and generally can’t be canceled. That’s why you have to be extra careful and follow some general guidance, such as:

  1. Never send money to people promising something in the future, such as free money in return, for example)
  2. Check the other person’s profile to specify if it is the proper person
  3. Double-check all recipient details before transmitting any money to ensure that you’re sending cash to the right person
  4. Only send money to people who you trust or know
  5. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is
  6. Don’t share your Cash App details with strangers
  7. Use PayPal because of its Purchase Protection cover

Other Similar Cash App Scams 

cash app scams

There are many, and I mean many types of scams. Some are creative, while others are downright stupid and blatant, but what they all have in common is to part people like you and me of our hard-earned money. 

Craigslist is still at the top of the scam-pyramid, as well as many types of deposit scams, of which the fake Cash App balance screenshot is a part.

Many scams include transferring a deposit to secure a puppy or kitten, an apartment, and similar. 

Then there’s the romance scam in which a scammer is impersonating an engineer, volunteer, soldier, doctor, etc. In short, a person of authority who’s working overseas. 

The scammers are “making” you fall in love with them before asking for an ever-increasing amount of money to pay for non-existing surgeries, penalties, fees, airline tickets, etc. 

The reasons they come up with are endless and include one sob story after another. This is also a long-play, where the money requests only come up after a couple of weeks. In the meantime, you’ve come to “know” and trust them to the point you aren’t even suspicious. 

What Should You Do if You Get Scammed on Cash App?

If you get scammed, we recommend that you register a potential scam payment using the following steps in the Cash App:

  1. Tap the profile icon 
  2. Tap on “Support”
  3. Select “Report a Payment Issue”
  4. Choose the payment 
  5. Follow the prompts

Additionally, if the scam is connected to a scam account instead of a specific money transfer that you made of received, you can block and report the account by:

  1. Launching the Cash App 
  2. Choosing a Customer Avatar to view their account or search for it by typing a $Cashtag, Email, Name, or Phone Number 
  3. Tapping on ‘Report’ or ‘Block’ 
  4. Selecting one of the options
  5. Following the steps

Further, we suggest that you contact the Cash support agent at https://cash.app/contact.

READ NEXT: 4 Ways How to Get Free Money on Cash App (That Still Work)

Conclusion

There are MANY scams out there, one more innovative than the previous one. The fake Cash App balance screenshot is one of the more basic ones that has been with us, in one form or another, for a long time.

It’s extremely important to familiarize yourself with various scams doing the rounds on social media or directly on financial apps such as Cash App, Chime, Zelle, Venmo, and others.  

About the Author

Chief Editor at TopMobileBanks

Adrian is a fintech expert who has tested hundreds of financial apps, cards, and accounts. His love for testing digital banks, payment apps, and financial products, in general, is unmatched.

How many digital banking accounts can one man have?

Not enough, if you ask Adrian. As his wallet will soon explode if he doesn’t cut back on the number of cards.

On the plus side, they have enabled him to create awesome How-To Guides that you can read on our site.

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