Payment App Scams
Over the last several years, mobile payment apps, also known as peer-to-peer (P2P) apps, have increased in popularity worldwide. According to Forbes, mobile payments are projected to increase to nearly $2.3 trillion in 2026.
P2P apps are digital platforms that enable users to transfer money directly to others without needing to know their banking information. In most cases, you can send or request money simply by knowing someone’s phone number or email address. P2P apps like Zelle®, PayPal, Venmo, Cash App and others are easy and convenient ways to split a dinner bill with a friend, send spending money to a child away at college, pay your hair stylist and countless other everyday uses.
However, as handy as they are, P2P apps are also routinely used by fraudsters to go after your money. In just the first three quarters of 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received over 95,000 reports of fraud conducted through P2P apps.
Common Scams
Fraudsters may send you a text message or call you, posing as a representative from your bank, asking if you authorized a payment through a P2P app such as Zelle®, PayPal, Venmo or Cash App (not an exclusive list of P2P apps). When you respond that you didn’t authorize the payment, the fraudster may claim there has been an account breach and ask for your personal and account information. This often leads to you receiving a one-time code on your mobile device that the fraudster will request to “verify your identity.” With that information, the fraudster can access your account and transfer money to an account they own.
Another common scam is overpayment or accidental payment. A scammer may attempt to purchase an item you’re selling through an online marketplace like Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist, using a P2P app to send you more money than agreed upon, claiming it was an accident and asking you to refund the difference. You may also receive a random message from an unknown sender who sent you money “by mistake,” pretending they entered the wrong phone number. The unknown sender will ask you to return the money sent to you, but what you don’t realize is that in both scenarios, the funds were sent to you from a stolen account. When the real account owner identifies that funds were stolen from their account, their bank will likely reverse the transaction, and you’ll be left with the loss.
An increasingly common scam, particularly with the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI), is the “grandparent” scam. Fraudsters may call you, pretending to be a grandchild or other relative, friend or colleague, and claim they’re in urgent need of money to pay a kidnapping ransom, bail them out of jail or any number of urgent scenarios. Fraudsters are using AI to convincingly impersonate people you know and using fear to manipulate you into sending money quickly via P2P apps.
Protecting Yourself
So, what can you do to prevent losses through P2P apps? First, only send money to people you know and trust. Relatives, close friends and colleagues are generally the most trustworthy, and you should be able to easily verify their phone number or email address before sending money. Your bank, government agencies or law enforcement will never request that you send money to them via P2P apps. Fraudsters count on you acting immediately without thinking through the request or taking time to verify the information provided to you.
When possible, avoid paying or accepting payment for independent online purchases with P2P apps. If this is not possible, ensure you are taking appropriate precautions, as mentioned above, by verifying the identity of the seller/buyer and not accepting overpayments or money sent “by mistake.” Although many legitimate merchants are increasingly accepting P2P payment methods, which are usually easy to validate, a purchase or sale to/from an individual may not be as straightforward to validate. Things can get even more complicated should you need to undo the sale/request a refund. Cash is always the recommended payment method for independent sales whenever possible.
Never transfer money to anyone who requests immediate, urgent payment. Even though AI impersonations can be extremely convincing, if you step back from the situation and give yourself a moment to think through what is being requested, the reason for the request, and by whom it is being requested, you should be able to determine whether the request is genuine or an attempted scam. A common fraud prevention technique is to create a secret password, known only to your family, so if you receive an urgent call asking for money, you can ask for that password to confirm their identity. Alternatively, hang up and call the family member or another close relative directly, to validate the story. Again, fraudsters are relying on you acting on impulse, without taking time to think through the request or verify the information.
Using these fraud prevention techniques, P2P apps can be a convenient and simple way to send and receive money for legitimate reasons. MidFirst Bank offers Zelle® payments to our customers through Personal Online Banking, the MidFirst Bank App or through midfirst.com. To send or receive money with Zelle®, both parties must be enrolled in Zelle® payment services through a participating financial institution. Transactions typically occur in minutes between enrolled users. You should not use the Zelle® payment service to send money to recipients you do not know or do not trust because these transactions cannot be recalled once the funds are sent.
For more information, or if you’ve been the victim of a P2P scam through your MidFirst Bank account, call us at 888.MIDFIRST (888.643.3477).
Sources:
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/money-transfer/peer-to-peer-fraud-statistics-in-year/