Square allowed a fraudulent account to be linked to my account

[turkeyfat]

Square allowed a fraudulent account to be linked to my account and then took money from my account to cover disputed charges in the other account.  Square said it was linked because the name is the same, different emails. Has anyone had this happen to them???

[Candlestore]

@turkeyfat ;

I have never heard of that since any account that is setup with Square needs to be Linked to a Verified Bank account.  Meaning the Fake account first would have needed to be Verified by a small deposit withdrawal by Square before even allowing the Account.  Next Square keeps telling us users to have 2 step verification so when someone tries to change an account setting they send a text or email as per your 2 step verification method.   Yes this is annoying but is it more annoying than a fraudster taking your $$$?  Even if the Names Match your ss numbers and bank accounts should not match.  Square should be taking the $$ from the persons bank account that was set up by that person and their Bank Account, not yours cause names matched.   I know of 3 people with my name in the US, how many more are there that I do not know of?

[turkeyfat]

I have had this account since 2018. I use it for craft show sales. I have 2 step verification. I usually do 1 or 2 craft shows a month. I have never had a problem until this month. My past 2 show days had all credit card payments processed correctly. The $ wasn't transferred to my account. I received an email stating my negative balance on my other square account was now resolved because Square used my past 2 balances to zero that balance. I was told by square to file a police report and send them a copy of report. I received NO email confirming adding an additional account with different email address to my existing account. I am stunned and at complete loss as to what to do. Square has not provided when the fraudulent account was created, who created it or the total dollar amount sent from my account to the new account. I don't know what to tell the police; "hi, someone created a fake account of a pos system I use for craft shows. I don't know when, who, or total dollar amount in question. Pos company hasn't given me any info and told me to file police report." The good news is I found this out before craft show season gets into full swing. The bad news is I am out several hundred dollars and am getting no help from Square.

[Candlestore]

@turkeyfat ;

If you kept account of your Transactions and your Square deposits, you should be able to compare them to your deposits to your bank.   The difference would be what was stolen.  I just tried to download a Report of deposits from Square to my bank since I saw in the Details section you can see which Bank account the deposit was sent to, but Square does not let you download the actual details of the deposit, even if only the Name of the Bank and last 4 of the account number so you could easily filter or sort this information in spreadsheet.  To get more details you may have to contact Square again to see how you can access the data of the Bank account they deposited to for YOUR accounts.  If they still refuse you may have to go to the police, tell them Square won't give you the information and have them request it with a subpoena or court order.  I keep good books with my QuickBooks and when I was missing 1 cent in my account I will look and figure out why that Penny is missing..... was it a rounding error or something else?  I have now got my books that there is no difference and if I find any I can actually see which Transaction is missing.  I know the police want to know how much is missing so they can figure out if it is a misdemeanor or something worse.  Now thanks to looking into this I wish Square would let me download which Bank and at least the last few digits of an account number so I know where these deposits are assigned to go from Square.  

Of course Square will not tell you what the other account and Bank the fraudulent account was connected to because of the Theifs rights, and I bet you can no longer see a history of accounts associated that were connected to your.

account?  

I have one TIME consuming solution to find if you see anything abnormal but you have to go through every Transaction you had 1 by 1....... Ridiculous in this time with a computer.

On a computer go to your Square Dashboard- Transactions ---- select one by one your transaction, a receipt will popup, scroll to the bottom of the receipt and click on Transferred.  This will show you the Name of the Bank and the last 3 of the account.  Now you can skip all transactions for that Day I believe since all those days sales should be on the same Deposit.   Now when you have a List of all Dates for transactions that do not match Your account or Bank Name. you can export a Transaction report and filter out for those Deposit Id's or Dates of Deposits.   Then add it up to give to the Police.  Would be a lot better if Square left us down load the Truncated bank account numbers it deposited to So in this type of situation we could find the answers quickly.

Just thought of something that might Speed this up or at least Narrow it down.  Download your Transfer Details By Month or Year.... Then ask your Bank if you can have Deposit Records for the Same Time frame or pull up your Bank Statements and compare the Deposits and see if they Match from Square to your Bank.  This can be quicker if you have a separate account that only deposits go into from Square, if you have other income deposits outside of Square this may or may not be helpful. I have 2 bank accounts for my Business all Square deposits go into one account and my Cash sales go into another one, and my pay goes into my personal account.   Depending on how your Bank gives you or you get this information online you may be able to filter out Electronics Transfers or by Depositors Name in a spreadsheet. My bank lets me download csv, pdf, and QuickBook and Quicken file types.  So downloading in csv I could filter out who sent me $$ I believe.  Never tried to download the csv from my bank since I use QuickBooks files from my bank.

Sorry I can not be of much help but wish you luck in getting this fixed and maybe an idea or two of mine can at least help you find the amount to give to the police.  

[turkeyfat]

How do you see a history of accounts connected to original account? Square will not even tell me when the disputes took place or dollar amount of disputes, let alone who it was. I have only had 2 disputes on my actual account, both in 2018. I am at such a loss of what to do here. I think I need some kind of information to tell the police or FTC. 

[Candlestore]

@turkeyfat ;

If you go to your Dashboard and Transactions you can look back at all your transactions for some time frame.... not sure how far they go back but I was able to go back to 2019, when I started with Square.

 

https://squareup.com/dashboard/sales/transactions 

Then click on Transactions and you can see a Receipt and at the bottom There will be a $ amount with Transferred,

Click on the Transferred, which will show the below image:

 

If the Bank Name or ....123 with Red arrow pointing at it does NOT match your Bank or account, that would be the account that stole your $$.

To get more details click the blue View Details.  

Now to save time when your at the Transferred page you can select date ranges for say 2019 and see if the totals = what you should have received from square.  keep repeating to you see a discrepancy.  Then do this for each month compared to statements for deposits to your bank account.   Then narrow it down to the missing Transaction(s).   If someone had money put in their account from Square which was intended for you, there has to be a discrepancy between Square amounts deposited and the amount you received in your bank account.

[turkeyfat]

The correct total amount to be transferred from my last 2 sales days in question is correct. All of the sales are present on both of the days. However ZERO funds were transferred. There is even a transfer confirmation number on each of the days in question. Square has kept this money and applied it elsewhere and will not tell me where or what the dollar amount is. They have said my funds have been applied to another account that is linked to mine that has negative balance. They will not give me date of dispute(s), dollar amount of dispute(s) or who this account is. They have now told me to file a police report or FTC report and send them the paperwork. Unbelievable.

[Candlestore]

Follow the instructions of my previous post to determine which Bank and Which last 3 digits the funds went to.  Since you located the transfer in question.  Since I can not see your account and do not work for Square there is not much more I can do.  

You located the transactions in question, have the Transfer notice, now look at the details to see which bank and last 3 digits to go to as described previously it the post with the Picture and transfer of $200.62.  Then look for more transfers with that account number and take to police cause that would be he funds missing that were stolen.

Now since you said it was the Last 2 days and we started this conversation Monday, check your bank account the money could have been delayed with the transfer because Sat and Sunday sales may not show in bank account till Monday.  

[tlsnell]

This happened to me last year as well. ~$30K from my Square account was transferred into a bank account that was not mine and I never authorized it to be linked to my business account. Square gave me some of the money back and they removed the fraudulent account, but never provided any information to me regarding whose name or email was on the account. I am out ~$20K and they still included that income on my 1099 so I am supposed to pay taxes on it even though I never received it. I have every transaction recorded but Square does not care. They said it is essentially my fault and they have no responsibility. It has been reported as a felony, however, Square has not provided any information for the police to follow up on for this case. Very disappointed.

[turkeyfat]

There was no transfer for the last 2 sales days.  This is what it says. I dont know where the money went or what it was applied to. They wont tell me.

$0.00 Transfer

Export Transactions

TRANSFER #

3Z3VFX2E6WSC8YVDH5BY12E3434N

Transfer Summary

Transfer 04/15/2023 04/16/2023 Total

Transactions	12	0	12
Gross Sales	$215.00	$0.00	$215.00
Returns	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Discounts	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Net Sales	$215.00	$0.00	$215.00
Tax	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Tips	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Gift Card Sales	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Total Collected	$215.00	$0.00	$215.00
Fees	($6.79)	$0.00	($6.79)
Other	$0.00	($208.21)	($208.21)
Transfer	$208.21	($208.21)	$0.00

[Candlestore]

@turkeyfat:

Click Here :  https://squareup.com/dashboard/ 

Select Transactions  The Red Arrow points to it on the Left of your Computer.  See image

On the Next screen after Clicking or double clicking transactions the next screen will show up.  Top Left is a Date selection circled in Red.  You can also select Multiple days 4-26 to 4-28 like I did in the Picture of the Calendar.  You will want 4-15 to 4-16 selected as your date range since that is what you are showing in a csv file.

You will then see your list of Transactions for the Date range.  Double Click one of those dates that corresponds and then you will see a receipt on the Right side, should look similar to: (The Blue bar is the Transaction I selected and clicked on for the Screen shot to give the Receipt on the Right.  You should be able to Scroll the Receipt alone to see the below picture.

 

After Scrolling down you can see the Below picture where you want to click Transferred which is in Black lettering and underlined.  As shown in the below picture circled in Red

 Then you will get what was included in the Transfer and will show the Bank Name and account number shown where red arrow points.  Mine was erased and I typed Bank Info where this should be.   For More details  Click the Blue View Details.

Which gives you :

After Clicking the Blue View Details a small pop shows you more details as shown below:

 

Again I deleted my information that would be in this screen shot but the ACH number, ACH Trace number Bank Name and ID will have information under them for you to hopefully find your $$.

I think the information you posted this morning at about 10 am may have been that you did not go far enough to see all the view details screen and just posted the csv format of the Transfer Amounts.

 

 

[turkeyfat]

I did that, it still shows zero was transferred. Here is one of the transactions:

$25.00 Payment

Apr 15, 2023 11:18 am

Collected at: Turkey Fat Creations

Source: Point of Sale

Sale attributed to: Untracked team member

Paid by: Franchesca Gallo

Custom Amount

$25.00

TOTAL

$25.00

Visa 4039 (FRANCHESCA GALLO)

$25.00

Apr 15, 2023 11:18 am

Receipt #pCRb

$24.25 Transferred 

Fees: Swiped 2.60% + $0.10 ($0.75)

This is what it shows when I click on the highlighted $24.25 transferred:  Square did not transfer it to a bank account. I don't know what they did with it and they will not tell me. 

$0.00 Transfer

Export Transactions

TRANSFER #

3Z3VFX2E6WSC8YVDH5BY12E3434N

Transfer Summary

Transfer 04/15/2023 04/16/2023 Total

Transactions	12	0	12
Gross Sales	$215.00	$0.00	$215.00
Returns	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Discounts	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Net Sales	$215.00	$0.00	$215.00
Tax	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Tips	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Gift Card Sales	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Total Collected	$215.00	$0.00	$215.00
Fees	($6.79)	$0.00	($6.79)
Other	$0.00	($208.21)	($208.21)
Transfer	$208.21	($208.21)	$0.00

[Candlestore]

@turkeyfat ;

This is where I get confused since you have both a Receipt Number and a Transferred number.

Do you have a Loan with Square at all that they took the $208.21 for?

You are showing 4 columns for the Transferrer and mine only Show 3 columns.

---

The Column you have with Header '0' I do not have.   And shows a (208.21) amount which usually means a withdrawal.  Do you have a Square Banking account or Square Debit Card?  Those items I do not have and might be why you have the extra column ?

Did you give Square the Transfer # and ask where it was sent since you never received it and it is showing a Transfer amount of $0.00.  But shows an Unlabeled withdrawal of 208.21.  What was that for since Square moved it somewhere?

 When I was reading your bottom column before, I thought $208.21 was your Balance, Square Deducted $208.21 to Transfer, and then the $0.00 was your Balance after the Transfer.  Now I see there was a Withdrawal of $208.21 classified as Other..... What is Other in red below?????  The Green ($208.21) I was thinking was the transfer from Balance to transferred and then the remaining Was $0.00 

Other	$0.00	($208.21)	($208.21)
Transfer	$208.21	($208.21)	$0.00

Now I understand more but have no idea how to help besides asking more questions to the support number or asking to talk to a supervisor or manager for a more detailed explanation of the OTHER column you shared here.   I have never come across that since 2019.

[turkeyfat]

No, I do not have a loan with square, a square banking account or debit card. I only have one little dongle for my phone so I can take credit cards at craft shows. Since 2018. The three columns are column 1: 4/15/2023 - date of sales (show) Column 2: 4/16/2023 date of money transfer (I do 1-2 business days automatic) and column 3: total. So I had 12 credit card sales on 4/15, they "transferred" my money 4/16 "somewhere" and wont tell me where or why except to say there was a negative balance on another one of my linked accounts that is now resolved. I guess you are right, the "other" category is where the money went.  I hope to be able to get them to respond.

[turkeyfat]

@Candlestore Keith (and anyone else who may be following this tread), I have finally received information from Square involving this situation. Apparently I have been the victim of identity theft. Someone had enough of my personal information to create a fraudulent account under my name, have a disputed charge and then cancel the account. I am working with Square and the FTC for resolution. I have to say that the last person from Square recovery I talked to was extremely helpful and forthcoming as to what is going on. I will give glowing review of him. I thank you Keith for all your help in this matter. Hopefully this doesn't happen to me again, or anyone else here at Square.

[SQUARSCAMMEDME]

I am in the same boat right now. I hope they help me out.

[ES906]

Currently dealing with this and square is not helpful. They have now froze my account and won’t send me my transactions from today. I’m no longer taking card payments and looking into a new pos system. This is beyond frustrating. They told me they have determined the other account is the same person as me but with a different last name 

[Joe1017]

exact same thing happened to me today. transfer number with no account number and an email saying i had another square account that had a charge back they were covering with these funds. I hope i get help. doesnt look good

[Bradford]

Happened to me today as well. Looms like someone opened a second Square account and it was somehow connected to mine.  Received an email from Square on Sunday, followed by a notice that they would be deducting funds from my bank today. Thought it was spam because there are no disputes when I login to my Square account. I had been receiving what looked like phishing texts for about a month with similar messages. Today Square deducted over $1,000 from my business checking account. Phone customer service has no clue what's happening and told me the only way to resolve was via email. 

We noticed you had a negative balance on a previously existing Square account. This was due to a payment dispute loss, in which the disputed funds were returned to your customer’s bank. We’ve since debited funds from your new Square account to cover that negative balance.

As noted in our Payment Terms, Square reserves the right to cover any funds you owe with the balance of any other Square account connected to your business. If you’d like to appeal this action, you’ll need to reply directly to this email with government-issued formation documentation that proves the businesses associated with your two Square accounts are seperate entities. Please make sure your EIN and date of business formation are visible on these attachments.

Sincerely,

Allison Square Account Services

$1,023.54 will be withdrawn from your linked bank account

[Dave915]

Hello, I’m currently dealing with the same thing. I received this very same email and had a similar amount of funds taken.  I’ve made the report to the FTC and followed Squares instructions but I’m now a week without them emailing me back.  Was this ever resolved for you?