Does someone need my email to send me a Venmo?

[Grace Hopper]

I have provided my Venmo address. They are insistent they also need my email address. Is this a scam?

[Pawz4me]

I’ve never needed anyone’s email. 

[Guest]

I have Venmo’d people whose email I do not know/have never had. As long as you know their Venmo identity, it’s all good. 

[Grace Hopper]

Ok thanks for the validation. This one buyer is acting squirrelly so I am going to hold my ground. 
 

I have a feeling she’s just an older not-tech-savvy person (pot, meet kettle😂) but I’m not taking any chances. 

[KSera]

39 minutes ago, Grace Hopper said:

I have a feeling she’s just an older not-tech-savvy person (pot, meet kettle😂) but I’m not taking any chances. 

I immediately thought of my mom when I read your question. Electronic payment methods are very confusing and unnerving to her (your buyer is probably asking the reverse of her friends— “the seller won’t give me her email address, is this a scam?” 😂)

[Katy]

I think maybe the first time I used venmo it asked for their email address in order to verify it was the right person. I’m not certain. It was years ago, but that sounds familiar. I did ask (my high school friend running a fundraiser who I only talk to on Facebook) for her email to confirm, which is why I remember that. 

[Forget-Me-Not]

I've always just had it ask for the last 4 digits of the phone number if it's a new payee

[QueenCat]

They just need the last 4 digits of your phone number. They don't need your email.

[marbel]

I've been asked for email and last 4 digits of phone number when sending to someone the first time, but I didn't have them, and though I don't remember exactly what I did to bypass the request, the payment went through. It was just for verification. I did have the person's Venmo ID.  I think there was a warning that I might be sending the $$ to the wrong person. 

[kirstenhill]

18 minutes ago, marbel said:

I've been asked for email and last 4 digits of phone number when sending to someone the first time, but I didn't have them, and though I don't remember exactly what I did to bypass the request, the payment went through. It was just for verification. I did have the person's Venmo ID.  I think there was a warning that I might be sending the $$ to the wrong person. 

I think I remember something similar happened to me.  I needed to Venmo money to someone organizing an event - it was the only method provided for payment and I had never met this person and certainly didn't know their phone number (this was a school-adjacent event, so a parent on the organizing committee was collecting payments on behalf of all participating students).  There must have been a way to bypass it, and I remember the same "warning" that I needed to double check the Venmo ID to make sure I was paying the correct person since I wasn't doing the verification.

[ScoutTN]

3 hours ago, QueenCat said:

They just need the last 4 digits of your phone number. They don't need your email.

They don’t even have to have that. You can pay without it.

[vonfirmath]

4 hours ago, Katy said:

I think maybe the first time I used venmo it asked for their email address in order to verify it was the right person. I’m not certain. It was years ago, but that sounds familiar. I did ask (my high school friend running a fundraiser who I only talk to on Facebook) for her email to confirm, which is why I remember that. 

When I have used Venmo it has sometimes asked for the last 4 digits of their phone number.

 

[vonfirmath]

43 minutes ago, ScoutTN said:

They don’t even have to have that. You can pay without it.

How? When I've done it there is no way to submit without a verification

[ScoutTN]

5 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

How? When I've done it there is no way to submit without a verification

I have always had a “send without verifying” box to click. 

[marbel]

Maybe - I am totally not sure about this - it's different if done on the phone app or on a desktop/laptop. I think when I did it the first time, I was on my desktop.

[Grace Hopper]

8 hours ago, KSera said:

I immediately thought of my mom when I read your question. Electronic payment methods are very confusing and unnerving to her (your buyer is probably asking the reverse of her friends— “the seller won’t give me her email address, is this a scam?” 😂)

That thought definitely did occur to me!

6 hours ago, marbel said:

I've been asked for email and last 4 digits of phone number when sending to someone the first time, but I didn't have them, and though I don't remember exactly what I did to bypass the request, the payment went through. It was just for verification. I did have the person's Venmo ID.  I think there was a warning that I might be sending the $$ to the wrong person. 

I’ve seen that message before but it’s been optional.  as in, are you sure that’s the person you want to send money to? Seriously I’ve had people Venmo me - strangers – and they did not need anything other than my venmo address. And I have sent funds the same way. 
 

Anyway, my last message to her was an apology for sounding for sounding difficult, but you can’t be too careful these days.  And then got crickets so I’m pretty sure it was not a legit person.

[ktgrok]

6 hours ago, marbel said:

I've been asked for email and last 4 digits of phone number when sending to someone the first time, but I didn't have them, and though I don't remember exactly what I did to bypass the request, the payment went through. It was just for verification. I did have the person's Venmo ID.  I think there was a warning that I might be sending the $$ to the wrong person. 

This. I actually got worried, messaged the person to ask for their email, and then while waiting I realized there was a way to bypass it.