Investigating the Security of Venmo
“Can you request me on Venmo?” or “I’ll Venmo you,” are common phrases said by Gen Z. When you forgot your card or can’t split a check at a restaurant, you can easily turn to Venmo to pay your friends back. Venmo is a mobile payment service owned by PayPal. Venmo is used as a way to send money to friends and family easily. Users can pay and request their friends as needed. Venmo allows the user to store the money they received from others in their Venmo account so it can be easily sent to friends when necessary. How Many People Use Venmo in 2022? [Latest Stats] — EarthWeb states that over 83 million people use Venmo and more than 7 million all Venmo users are between the ages of 18 to 24 years old.
The question raised is “How safe is Venmo?” A lot of people have doubts about the security of the app. I will be researching the technology behind Venmo and how it is used. With millions of people using the application, being aware of the security behind it is crucial. I plan to research how money is transferred from Venmo to a bank account and how easily Venmo accounts can be hacked.
An article, I Know What You Did on Venmo — USC Viterbi, talks about privacy leaks on Venmo. The article shares many real-life examples about Venmo users and how using it has led to some issues with their privacy. The article dives deeper into a study conducted by USC Viterbi researchers. By using research from this article, I hope to answer more questions and find ways to improve Venmo’s security.
To conduct further research, I will need to understand why people trust Venmo. I would want all the research participants to be users of Venmo for at least one month. Each participant would be asked 5 survey questions.
- How long have you been using Venmo?
- Why do you use Venmo?
- Do you tend to make your transactions private or public?
- Do you keep money in your Venmo account or transfer it directly to your bank account?
- Has there ever been an incident where the security of your personal information was an issue because of Venmo?
I would want to interview about 100 people of all age groups to get accurate data. Based on the survey, I would compare research data from previous studies with the data I collected and see if there are any discrepancies. Then I would proceed to use the statistics to further analyze how Venmo safety can be improved. I would also observe how those around me use Venmo. I would want to collect as much data as possible, so I would give the study at least two months to ensure enough time.
The study would be a randomized study consisting of Venmo users of all ages. Since I am trying to focus on the security of Venmo and the transfer of money, I would want to have the users have experience using Venmo so I can get a complete understanding of how and what they use the app for.
A major part of the study would be researching the safety of Venmo. Venmo is linked to a bank account or credit card. If an account is hacked then this is a major safety concern. Venmo platform uses an application programming interface (API) to process transactions between people who are sending and receiving money. Venmo uses an application programming interface (API) to process transactions between people who are sending and receiving money.
From the research study, I speculate that most people feel safe using Venmo. Most people probably do not do the proper research before downloading the app to take precautions and make sure their account will be safe until something happens that affects their safety. Others will make sure they private all their transactions, and set up all the precautions they can like multi-factor authentication. Most people do not realize how much is at stake until it is too late and they have been hacked. It is crucial to ensure that all the steps to ensure safety are taken when using an app like Venmo that deals with money transfers, bank accounts, and credit card information. The app deals with the peer to peer transactions so knowing the money that is sent through Venmo will be safe is important to the users.
Through this research, I hope to spread awareness to users about the extent to which Venmo is safe. I want to be able to answer any questions about Venmo security. Some may ask “Is it safe to keep money in a Venmo account?’ or “How likely am I to be hacked?” It is important to know that Venmo isn’t insured. If the service goes down and you lose your money, you will not get it back. So a step that can be taken is to make sure you transfer money back to your account if it is a large sum. By completing this study, I will be able to help Venmo users understand Venmo’s security.
After researching and analyzing the surveys, I want to find ways to improve Venmo’s security in all the different ways that I can. All the users who download the app do not look into each detail of security, since it is widely used by millions of people. They go into it blindly trusting that it is a safe app. This research and its findings will help strengthen security for the app, making sure users do not have to take a lot of extra steps to feel safe when they use the app.
