As relief organizations step up to help the victims of flash flooding in central Texas, impersonation scammers are swooping in to take advantage of digital payment charity efforts and siphon donations away from where they are needed most.
The Center Point Volunteer Fire Department of Kerr County, Texas, one of the hardest-hit areas from flash flooding that hit the region late last week, experienced the danger of payment platform impersonators firsthand over the weekend.
The fire department's Venmo account, set up to accept digital donations for relief efforts, was impersonated by scammers and then frozen by Venmo due to fraud concerns.
"When we got back to our department from a day of doing search and rescue, it was brought to attention that our account was down," Tye Turman, president and chaplain of the CPVFD, told American Banker in an exclusive interview. "I reached out to Venmo and told them we have a three part issue — our account is frozen, we have fraudulent accounts that are out there [impersonating] us and they've taken our logo as well."
The fire department's logo also disappeared from its Venmo account in what Turman believes was a technical glitch, which made it harder to tell the legitimate account from impersonators.
Turman didn't receive an official explanation from Venmo as to why the account was frozen, but believes that it was flagged because of the high volume of donations the account received right after it was created.
Starting early Friday, flash floods in Kerr County, Texas, caused the Guadalupe River to rise 26 feet within 45 minutes. As of Monday evening, CNN and NBC News reported that at least 95 people had died in the floods. Dozens of the victims were campers at Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp on the river.
Turman said that he set up a Venmo account for the 32-member volunteer fire department on Saturday evening so people could donate to flooding relief efforts.
"So many people were calling and asking us, 'How can we make donations to the department?'" he said. "As we're in the days of technology, not everyone wants to write a check and send it in the mail. We were just trying to find a convenient way to help people who wanted to do something quickly versus mailing a check."
The team decided to use Venmo to accept digital payments due to familiarity with using personal Venmo accounts already.
"We thought it would be a good idea to set up a Venmo account because it's prompt, it's speedy, it's reliable and we thought that'd be the way to go," he said. "We even had to provide some identifying information specific to our department."
Digital payment platforms, such as PayPal, Venmo and Zelle, are often used by criminals in what are called "account impersonation" scams: instances where scammers try to impersonate individuals or organizations by closely mimicking their account name or profile picture. As of publication, several fraudulent accounts impersonating the fire department have not yet been taken down by Venmo.
PayPal, which has
The CPVFD republished its official Venmo account info
"Venmo has been extremely helpful and responsive in answering our questions and trying to help fix all these particular errors," Turman said. "They've got a team of people looking into the fraudulent accounts to try and take care of that for us as well."
A PayPal representative declined to comment on any specific account cases for privacy reasons, but emphasized the payment platform's efforts to combat scams across the board.
"Venmo does not tolerate fraudulent activity on our platform. We work diligently to protect our customers, including taking prompt action against any bad actors," said a company representative. "Common impersonation scams can take on many forms online and are not specific to Venmo, as fraudsters capitalize on people's goodwill by posing as charities on different channels to trick well-meaning people into making 'donations.'"
One recommendation Venmo gave to consumers was to donate to Venmo charity accounts that are vetted and verified by the company. Turman had the option of selecting "charity" as an account type when setting up the fire department's official Venmo account, but was unsure what the fire department would be classified as and selected the business account type instead.
"I've since had conversations with Venmo, and the account showing up as a charity may have prevented some of the issues," Turman said.
Venmo charity profiles are an account type specifically for charitable organizations and 501(c)(3)s to receive tax-exempt donations, but require a verified PayPal business account to set up. Center Point Volunteer Fire Dept Inc.
Zelle hasn't seen a meaningful uptick in donation scams related to the flooding in central Texas, according to a company representative, but is continuing to monitor for potential fraud cases on its platform.
"This is a tragic situation, and unfortunately criminals quickly exploit moments like this," Zelle General Manager Denise Leonhard told American Banker. "Scams don't originate with the payment method. They start with deception. Criminals are not above exploiting natural disasters and national tragedies. They may sound convincing and use personal information, but it's critical to pause, verify the source, never rush into a decision, and stay skeptical. New scams emerge constantly, and the best protection is to slow down and confirm who you are dealing with."
The Texas Office of the Attorney General is also preparing to respond to flooding relief-related scams with legal action.
"There are no words for how wrong it is that morally bankrupt people are trying to take advantage of Texans by using this tragedy to scam them," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. "Anyone engaging in these scams will face the full force of the law, and I will not rest until they are brought to justice."
