Verifying Payments in Chat Apps and P2P Money Requests

A message that says "I've sent you the money", a screenshot of a payment, or a request from a friend's account in WhatsApp proves nothing on its own, and scammers rely on people treating it as proof. This guide explains how to check whether a payment has really arrived, how to check whether a money request is really from the person it claims to be from, and what to do when something does not add up. It covers chat apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram, peer-to-peer (P2P) payment apps such as PayPal, Venmo, Cash App and Zelle, and bank transfers. It is written in plain English for anyone who buys, sells or lends money through their phone, and for the people who support them: family members, community groups and fraud teams writing customer advice.

Key takeaways

Only your own app or bank is proof. Check a payment by opening the payment app or typing the website address yourself, never by tapping a link, a screenshot or an email.
"Available" is not "final". The FTC warns that seeing funds in your account does not mean a cheque was good, and Venmo warns that payments from stolen cards or bank details can be reversed.
Never send back a "mistaken" payment yourself. Venmo's advice for a stranger's payment followed by a request to return it is to contact Venmo so it can help reverse it, not to send money back.
Check a friend's request on a different channel. WhatsApp suggests asking a personal question or making a voice or video call; the FTC says the friend's account may have been hacked.
Act fast if you have paid. Contact your bank or app straight away. In the UK, bank transfer scam victims can claim up to £85,000 under the reimbursement rules if they report within 13 months.

The four tricks to know

Almost every chat or app payment scam is one of four patterns, or a mix of them.

Trick	What you see	What is really happening	The check that beats it
Fake proof of payment	A screenshot, a forwarded "payment confirmation" email, or a message saying payment is "pending" until you do something, such as upload shipping details	No money has been sent. Screenshots are images that can be edited, and emails can be forged. Venmo lists fake payment screenshots and the "payment arrives after you upload shipping details" claim as known scams.	Open the app or bank yourself and look at your balance and activity
Send it back	A stranger pays you, then says it was a mistake and asks you to return it	The original payment may be funded with stolen card or bank details and later reversed, leaving you out of pocket by the amount you "returned"	Do not send anything; contact the payment app's support
Overpayment	A buyer pays more than the price, often by cheque, and asks you to refund the difference	The FTC describes this as a scam: the cheque bounces weeks later, and you owe the bank the full amount	Refuse any payment above the agreed price
Friend or family impersonation	A message from a known name, or a new number ("I've lost my phone"), asking for urgent money	The account is hacked or a copy profile uses the person's name and photo	Call the person on a number you already have, or ask a personal question

See the Impersonation Scams Guide for more on the "friend in need" and "bank calling" scripts.

How to check a payment has really arrived

Ignore the message. Do not use any link, phone number or button in the email, text or chat. PayPal's advice is to open the PayPal app, or type paypal.com into a new browser window, log in and check your activity there.
Look at your activity and balance yourself. A real payment appears in the app's activity list and in your balance. If it is not there, it has not arrived, whatever the screenshot shows.
Check where money really sits. If the money is in a payment app, look at the app balance; if the person says they paid your bank, look at your bank app. A balance in one does not mean money is in the other.
Check the sender. Make sure the name and handle match the person you are dealing with. Venmo suggests checking a profile's public transaction history and network when something seems off.
Wait before you hand over goods or send anything back. Payments funded by stolen cards or bank details can be reversed, and cheques can take weeks to be found to be fake. For high value items, collect in person and take a payment you can confirm in your own app before the goods leave your hands.
Check the sender address on any email. Venmo says its emails come from addresses ending in venmo.com. A padlock or "https" in a web address does not prove a site is genuine: PayPal warns that fake sites can have both.

Rules of thumb for sellers

No "pending until": no genuine payment app asks you to pay a fee, upload a tracking number, or "upgrade to a business account" before money is released. Treat any such request as a scam.
No overpayments: agree a price and accept exactly that amount.
No swaps: Venmo advises against exchanging a cheque for an app payment.
Know your app's rules: Venmo's guidance is not to use it to sell to strangers except as its user agreement allows, and it offers Purchase Protection for eligible purchases through approved business accounts or payments tagged as a purchase.

See the Online Marketplace Buying and Selling Safely Guide for the wider buying and selling process.

How to check a money request is real

Requests for money in a chat app are dangerous because they arrive from a name you trust. The checks below take a minute and stop most of them.

Call, do not reply: phone the person on the number already saved in your contacts, not the number that messaged you. WhatsApp suggests a voice or video call or a personal question only the real person would know.
Treat new numbers with suspicion: "Hi Mum, this is my new number" is a classic opening. Do not send anything until you have spoken to them on their old number or in person.
Look for pressure: urgency, secrecy ("don't tell Dad"), and reasons why they cannot talk are warning signs. WhatsApp lists demands for money and requests to tap links or download apps among its signs of a suspicious message.
Check the payee: if a friend asks you to pay a different person, business or account "because my card isn't working", stop. Pay only people you can verify.
Never share codes: Venmo says never to share the verification code sent to your phone, and that it will never ask for remote access to your device or for money to "verify" your account. The same applies to WhatsApp and bank codes: whoever has the code can take over the account.

The UK Finance Take Five campaign sums this up as Stop, Challenge, Protect: stop and think before parting with money or information, challenge whether the request could be fake (it is fine to refuse or ignore it), and protect yourself by contacting your bank immediately if you think you have been scammed. It also advises verifying requests using contact details you found yourself, not those in the request.

Chat app and payment app specifics

Service	What the provider says	Where to get help
WhatsApp	Do not tap, share or forward a suspicious message; report and block the sender, then delete it. Confirm a "friend" by a personal question or a call.	In-app report and block
PayPal	Check payments by logging in directly; do not use links or numbers in messages; beware unexpected attachments and requests for card or account details.	Resolution Center for disputes (FTC lists 1 (888) 221-1161)
Venmo	Do not exchange payments with strangers; contact Venmo about unexpected payments rather than sending money back; tag purchases for Purchase Protection; Venmo verification texts contain no links.	In-app Get Help (FTC lists 1 (855) 812-4430)
Cash App	The FTC lists Cash App's own support routes for unauthorised payments or payments to scammers.	In-app Support, cash.app/help (FTC lists 1 (800) 969-1940)
Telegram and other chat apps	Apply the same rules: money claims are checked in the payment app, requests are checked on a second channel, and nobody gets your codes.	Use the app's report feature

Telephone numbers above are as listed by the FTC on its payment apps page. Always reach a provider through its app or a web address you type yourself, never through a number or link in a message.

Lock down the accounts that move your money

Turn on extra sign-in protection: the FTC recommends multi-factor authentication or a PIN on payment apps. Turn on two-step verification in WhatsApp too, so a stolen code alone cannot move your account to another phone.
Tighten privacy settings: Venmo suggests tightening your friends list and transaction privacy so that scammers cannot copy your contacts or see who you pay.
Double-check before you pay: the FTC advises double-checking the recipient's details before submitting any payment, because a mistyped handle can send money to a stranger.
Use a card where you can: card payments, cash and cheques have their own protections in the UK, separate from the bank transfer reimbursement rules. See the Protecting Your Personal Finances Online guide for how each method protects you.
Agree a family code word: a word only your family knows makes "it's me, new number" messages easy to test.

See the Account Takeover Prevention Guide for how hijacked messaging and payment accounts are used.

If you have already paid or sent money back

Contact the payment app or bank immediately, using the app or a number you find yourself. Speed matters: the sooner they know, the better the chance of stopping or recovering the money.
Keep the evidence: screenshots of the chat, the profile or number, the payment reference and the time. Do not delete the conversation before you have reported it.
Report and block the sender in the chat app.
Report the scam: in the UK, report to Action Fraud at reportfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or Police Scotland on 101. Forward scam texts to 7726. In the US, report to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Secure the account: if you shared a code or password, change it, sign out other devices and turn on two-step verification.
Beware recovery scams: people who contact you offering to get your money back for a fee are often the same criminals.

UK bank transfer reimbursement

Point	What the Payment Systems Regulator says
Which payments	UK bank transfers over Faster Payments or CHAPS made on or after 7 October 2024
Maximum claim	£85,000 (firms may pay more); larger losses can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service, whose limit is £430,000
Excess	Optional, up to £100; cannot be applied to vulnerable consumers
Deadline	Report as soon as possible and within 13 months of the payment
Timing	Usually within 5 business days of claiming; firms must reach an outcome within 35 business days
Exceptions	Not reimbursed if you were complicit or grossly negligent (a high bar, and not applied to vulnerable consumers)
Not covered here	Card, cash and cheque payments (they have their own protections); credit unions, municipal banks and national savings banks

Payments made inside an app balance rather than as a bank transfer may follow the app's own rules: ask the provider. See the Authorised Push Payment (APP) Fraud Guide for the bank side of these rules.

For organisations: advising customers and staff

Banks, marketplaces, charities and employers can cut losses by giving people the same few checks at the moment of risk.

Say what you never do: state plainly, in app and in messages, that you never ask for codes, remote access, fees to release payments or "test" payments. Venmo's list is a good model.
Show real status in the app: make incoming payment status (pending, completed, reversible) obvious inside your own app, so customers learn to look there rather than at emails.
Add friction for new payees: warnings and pauses on first payments to a new payee, especially after a chat-style "new number" pattern, give people time to stop and challenge.
Train finance and support staff: the same "screenshot as proof" trick is used against businesses. See the Business Email Compromise Awareness for Finance Teams Guide.

Measuring whether the advice works

Share of reported scams where the customer checked the payment in their own app before acting.
Time from payment to report (shorter means more recovery).
Number of first-time payee warnings that led to a cancelled payment.
Repeat victimisation rate, including recovery scams.
Reimbursement claims made within the 13-month window versus late ones.

Common failure patterns

Trusting the screenshot: goods handed over or money "refunded" on the strength of an image.
Replying on the same channel: asking "is this really you?" in the hijacked chat, where the scammer answers yes.
Returning a "mistake" directly: sending money back to a stranger instead of asking the app to reverse it.
Sharing a verification code: a caller or message "from support" asks for the code that hands over the account.
Paying in hard-to-recover ways: the FTC notes that gift cards, money orders, cryptocurrency and wire transfers are nearly impossible to recover.
Waiting to report: embarrassment delays the call to the bank, and the money moves on.

Practitioner checklist

Check every payment in your own app or bank, never in a message or screenshot.
Do not release goods until the payment shows as completed in your own account.
Refuse overpayments and never refund "the difference".
Contact the app, not the stranger, about any unexpected payment.
Confirm money requests from friends by calling a saved number or asking a personal question.
Never share verification codes or allow remote access to your phone.
Turn on two-step verification in chat apps and a PIN or multi-factor sign-in in payment apps.
If you have paid, call your bank or app straight away and report to Action Fraud or the FTC.

Verifying payments in chat apps and P2P money requests: how to check money is really yours