How to Send a Venmo Payment Back

Jessie Richardson Read more September 26, 2020

Venmo was initially made with peer-to-peer transactions in mind. It can be a useful tool when splitting the bill after a dinner with friends or sharing funds amongst people in general. However, as with all things in life, mistakes can happen and you might end up receiving the wrong payment.

In this article, we’ll show you how to send a Venmo payment back and even what to do if you’ve sent money to the wrong person!

A Friendly Blunder

If someone that you know sent you the funds, feel free to return them whenever you like. You might even get a payment request from that person after a while. Once you know who you’re dealing with, everything is straightforward – just send them back the amount they’ve given you, maybe with an explanatory message attached. You can even use the opportunity to offer to pick up the next tab!

When a Stranger Pays

If, on the other hand, you’ve received funds from an unknown person, it’s possible that there might’ve been some kind of a mistake. Maybe they’re a friend of a friend you’ve sent a payment request over drinks last night and forgot about it. Payment requests can be made to people who don’t yet have Venmo accounts, using their email address or mobile number.

However, if you’ve checked the details and made sure the sender is actually a total stranger, there’s a possibility of a scam. If you’re unsure, it would be best to proceed with caution and take one of the following steps:

Probably the best course of action would be to contact Venmo directly either through contact details on their sign-up page, or by submitting a request on Venmo support page. You should explain the situation and ask them to manually initiate the refund to sender. As mentioned before, until that process is done, don’t spend any money you’ve received from the person.
If you’re 100% certain you don’t know the payer personally, this is absolutely the best and most secure way to go about it!
You could simply do nothing and wait for several days. Should it turn out the transaction was an honest mistake, the sender has the option to initiate the return of funds on their own. If after a while that doesn’t happen, you can always resort back to Step 1 and start the process that way.
Of course, you can send the money back to the account it came from. While Venmo as a subsidiary of PayPal can be considered secure, transactions made through it are just as vulnerable to hacking attacks as any other service. Therefore, choose this option only if you can make sure that no scammers are behind the original payment – there’s no reason for taking unnecessary risks.

Beware, Beware

Now that you’ve learned how to send back the payment, there are some serious points to discuss. This information could influence all the steps you need to take after receiving the payment.

The main question is: did you receive funds from someone you know, or from a stranger? If it’s from a friend or family member, everything is fine. However, if the payment came from someone you don’t know, there’s reason for caution. Don’t be too alarmed, though – we’ll explain exactly what you can do in that situation!

Another important thing that needs your attention is the way payments are shown in Venmo. After you’ve received the funds and you see the money is already on your account, you are free to use it however you like. You must be careful with spending anything received from an unknown source, though – if the payer later files a claim or disputes the payment with Venmo, any refunds will be your responsibility!

On the Wrong Side of Payment

After reviewing different solutions for when you receive a strange payment, let’s quickly go over the options on the other side of things. What can you do if you sent money to the wrong person? Given that you won’t be sending any funds to complete strangers, it’s most probable you’ve sent it to a friend by mistake. In case that happened, here are your options:

If you made the payment using the recipients’ phone number or email, you’re in luck! That is the only situation in which you can cancel the payment. If the recipient didn’t create and activate their Venmo account in the meantime, you can simply log in, go to Incomplete section in the app menu and find the transaction in question under Payments. Hit the Take Back button underneath, and there will be no amount deducted from your account.
In case your friend already has a Venmo account and the payment went through, you can send them a charge request for the same amount. Be sure to include a message explaining that you’ve mistakenly sent them the funds. Should you not hear from them after a reasonable amount of time, you can get in contact with Venmo support as described in the “When a Stranger Pays” section.

If you actually wanted to send the funds to a different person, make sure to include all relevant information when contacting support. What you’ll need to provide is: username of the person you sent funds to, the amount and date of payment, and the username, phone number or email address of the person the payment was intended for.

Note that, while Venmo can’t guarantee money refunds, they will provide all available options for resolving your case.

Everything Is Settled

Whether or not you’ve received or sent a payment by mistake, there is a system in place to support you. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be very careful when it comes to financial transactions, though. But have no fear! Now that you know how to send a Venmo payment back, all you need to do is make sure who the other party is and act accordingly – your account will be safe and sound!

Did you receive a payment from an unknown person through Venmo? What steps did you take to send it back? Tell us in the comments section below!