WSJ: Don’t Forget to Block Your Ex on Your Payment Apps

Venmo, Cash App and Zelle can let undesirables send you messages—for a small fee. Mobile instant-payment services—including Block Inc.’s SQ -0.99%decrease; red down pointing triangle Cash App, PayPal Holdings Inc.’s PYPL -0.82%decrease; red down pointing triangle Venmo and PayPal, and the multibank network Zelle—bring convenience to the financial lives of anyone with a phone. People can send money to family, friends and businesses in seconds, and locate other users by name, phone number, email address or app username.

The transactions come with memos, usually a label for the payment like “Tacos!” or “April rent.” That function has become a backdoor for people to contact others who have blocked them elsewhere. On Cash App and Zelle, people can send as little as $1 and include a note. On Venmo and PayPal, that memo can be attached to just a single cent (a playful practice once known as penny poking). 

On the apps, people have begun hearing from exes—sharing a new phone number, pleading for another chance or just offering a cryptic hello. On rare occasions, the ex presents the other party with a bill.

Read the entire article here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/dont-forget-to-block-your-ex-on-your-payment-apps-207358bc?mod=hp_lead_pos13