SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - A victim of fraud who lost nearly $2,500 and never obtained a refund from Venmo has filed a class action lawsuit against its parent company, PayPal.
Mohammad Al-Ramahi's lawsuit was filed June 21 in California federal court by attorneys at Bursor & Fisher. It says there is virtually no recourse for users who are defrauded.
"Defendant was required to not misrepresent the unique and dangerous features of the Venmo service in its marketing and in contractual representations," the suit says. "But it failed to do so.
"As a result, users like Plaintiff sign up for and use the Venmo service without the benefit of accurate information... and later end up with huge, unreimbursed losses due to fraud. Such users never would have signed up for Venmo in the first place if they had known the risks..."
The suit says PayPal is legally required to cover unauthorized fraudulent transactions under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act.
Al-Ramahi responded to a job posting indeed.com in April 2020. An email from someone at the supposed company sent Al-Ramahi a check for $4,950 to pay for goods and supplies.
The check was a fraud, but in the meantime, Al-Ramahi agreed to send two payments of $2,450 back to the supposed company, one via Venmo. The company refused to reimburse him, the suit says.