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People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses

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Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses

#161

Post by iamjaredwalters »

fermienrico wrote: post #37

In this thread - "You can do X to make it private." In my view, that is not addressing the main issue with Venmo. Socializing financial transactions shouldn't have taken off from back of the napkin stage. It is simply unbelievable on 2 fronts: 1) Such an app exists and is doing fine 2) People simply do not care about their privacy. I am utterly speechless. Who in the right mind opens up Venmo to just browse what kind…

Venmo solved the pain points of easily transferring money between acquaintances regardless of the financial institutions that money may reside in. Having social interaction in their app is a side affect or the purpose, not the purpose itself.

Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses

#162

Post by iamjaredwalters »

coupdejarnac wrote: post #141

Add me to the list of people who were horrified to see a social feed when I signed up for Venmo. Ain't no way I'm ever going to use it. Though I suppose it would be interesting to see what other people are paying for/getting paid for. Perhaps I know some drug dealers or "professional girlfriends", etc.

You may be disappointed. Drug dealers and professional girlfriends are likely still uninterested in paper trails and paying taxes on income.

Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses

#163

Post by tbrownaw »

chillacy wrote: post #156
bskap wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Square Cash then?

At this point there are too many network effects around venmo, if you're splitting the BBQ with 5 people and 4 have venmo and you don't, it's not as convenient for the requester. That's why I got venmo initially, and now it's super easy to request money from friends and 2nd degree friends, since my network is all venmo. I know 1 person who uses square cash and he's over 40, and I know 2 or 3 less tech-literate friend…

I feel like I'm missing something here.

If I go out somewhere with a bunch of friends, we just ask for separate checks.

Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses

#164

Post by stirner »

chillacy wrote: post #156
bskap wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Square Cash then?

At this point there are too many network effects around venmo, if you're splitting the BBQ with 5 people and 4 have venmo and you don't, it's not as convenient for the requester. That's why I got venmo initially, and now it's super easy to request money from friends and 2nd degree friends, since my network is all venmo. I know 1 person who uses square cash and he's over 40, and I know 2 or 3 less tech-literate friend…

Yep, it’s network effects. All my friends were impressed by Square Cash’s ability to instantly transfer to their bank accounts for a small fee, but nobody wants to install another cash app (and another virtual wallet) to use with just one friend.

When Apple Pay Cash came out, I was sure that it would replace Venmo, but even after all my friends updated to iOS 11 they continued to use Venmo. I’m guessing this has something to do with Apple Pay Cash not having any way to keep track of pending payments and requests, meaning your friend will probably never pay you back for lunch if the request isn’t paid as soon as it’s sent, before getting buried in history by conversation (iOS-only is another network-effect factor, but my social group is pretty much exclusively iOS).

Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses

#165

Post by BookmarkSaver »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #151
BookmarkSaver wrote: post #94

Guys, people aren't "exposing their finances" on Venmo. People don't use it to buy stuff, or pay off CC bills, or anything. Nor are the transaction amounts exposed. It's used for balancing payments/debts between individuals. I don't consider "A paid B for brunch yesterday" or "X paid Y for Rent+cable" in any way to be "exposing finances". It's just another random (albeit unnecessary) social network, one that takes li…

It's amazing to me that this level of exposure seems "nuts" to you all and leaves you "speechless". I'm old. I'm very painfully aware that other people often feel amazingly entitled to have some say in how I spend my life. I have spent a lot of decades arranging a life in which, no, not too many people have any say whatsoever. It's possible that the youth of today are experiencing an unprecedented amount of (social)…

What experience do you "cranky elders" have that makes this seem dangerous? What possible malicious intent can be applied to the knowledge that someone shares rent with their roommate, or the occasional bar tab settlement? There aren't even dollar amounts attached, and usually just cryptic emoji messages.

Just saying "Information is power" makes it sound like there's been no thought put into the objection at all, I've not seen a single concrete explanation as to how this level of data collection is or could be dangerous. It seems like cowardly hiding behind a blanket principle because of paranoia about anything that can possibly be related to "privacy".

>I'm very painfully aware that other people often feel amazingly entitled to have some say in how I spend my life. I have spent a lot of decades arranging a life in which, no, not too many people have any say whatsoever.

I have absolutely no clue how this has anything to do with Venmo whatsoever.

Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses

#166

Post by ryandrake »

hunter23 wrote: post #63
slow_donkey wrote: post #11

It takes a few clicks to make everything private. Either way, I deleted my account last week because Venmo is killing their website and forcing Android/iOS only. I'm not even sure why Venmo caught on, it is the worst option out of all the possible payment systems (fb, Google pay, sq cash...) since they don't deposit cash received into your bank account and rather hold it interest free.

I was one of the early adopters of Venmo. Here's my take on it: * Venmo launched the first out of all the systems you mentioned * Venmo was one of the few (maybe only) system that allows you to pay users who are not on their system. Say you need to pay Joe and you were a Venmo user but Joe wasn't. You could still "pay" them on venmo and they would get a text back saying if they signed up they would get the payment. N…

I tried Venmo and it has what I consider a fatal bug: it doesn’t work with joint bank accounts. So if my wife has the app and transfers her Venmo balance to our account, I can’t also do that with my Venmo balance. They tell me to first transfer to her account then to the bank, which is...well, pretty hacky. You’d think they would be able to fix that one.

Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses

#167

Post by matte_black »

eagsalazar2 wrote: post #115
matte_black wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I mean sending money to women.

I'm confused about the distinction. You send women money you are hooking up with, you advertise to other women that if they hook up with you, you will also send them money. Very fine line you are drawing. Not judging, good for you!

I don’t hook up with most of them.

Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses

#168

Post by chiph »

bas wrote: post #97
gkoberger wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, I think most people use it to pay friends back for brunch or drinks. It's not like you're streaming all your credit card purchases. It's kinda like checking in on Foursquare with friends... it's a public way to expose your social graph a bit. It may not be for you, but people love social media. To put it a different way: it's so successful because, despite there being lots of ways to pay back friends, none of th…

> it's a public way to expose your social graph a bit. Why is this a thing?

Bragging? "Look at me, I'm baller, spending money on my friends!"

Re: People using Venmo to spy on cheating spouses

#170

Post by yaur »

ilamont wrote: post #88
gnicholas wrote: post #10

When I first created a Venmo account, I was shocked to see users' payments flowing through my feed and immediately found a way to make my payments private. But I could never find a way to effectively unlink the social media account (FB) that I had used to find my first friend/payee. I think I unlinked the account, but I still see payments from all the people that Venmo made me follow as a result of linking the now-un…

I was also shocked, and immediately set it to private. I registered using an email address (as I do for practically every online service I use) so I don't have to deal with the Facebook dimension. However, for the handful of people I regularly send money to, I can see all of their transactions on the home screen, including business fees (which reveals the freelance rates they charge), family loans, etc. I take it the…

If it is not private it's a valid thing to use for ad targeting.
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