April 15, 2026

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For five years you couldn’t get a person on the phone at Cash App. Here come the scammers

For five years you couldn’t get a person on the phone at Cash App. Here come the scammers

I’m so disappointed with Jack.

That’s how he signed his name on a legal challenge against his company brought by federal regulators.

Just “Jack.”

This Jack can get away with it. He’s Madonna or Elvis. A one-word name.

Watchdog Alert

Are you a taxpayer in Texas? The Watchdog has your back.

Jack is Jack Dorsey, the brilliant billionaire who co-founded Twitter, creator of the original Square credit card reader and a self-described “Block Head.”


Jack Dorsey is one of America's top innovators. But with Cash App he messed up.
Jack Dorsey is one of America’s top innovators. But with Cash App he messed up.(
Bill Pugliano
)

Block is the owner of Cash App, one of the most popular electronic money transfer apps. And the legal papers Dorsey signed with one word were a consent decree calling out Cash App as a troubled, law-violating company.

It’s hard for me to understand how Dorsey let things get so bad at Cash App that the feds came in January and threw a big fine at his company.

Then, in a different case, also in January, 48 states (including Texas) ganged up on Cash App to get it to rebuild itself into an honest company.

First, The Watchdog will show you the massive fines.

Then we’ll look at what went wrong.

Big fines

On the federal front, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s administrative proceeding brought against Cash App forced Jack’s company to pay massive fines — up to $120 million to victimized consumers and another $55 million in added penalties going to a victim relief fund.

In the separate case involving the 48 states, Cash App must pay another $80 million in penalties.

The joint total could go as high as $255 million.

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Fake phone lines

Customer service at Cash App was a misnomer. It should be customer disservice.

One action by the company was so wicked it took my breath away. For a long time, from 2016 to 2021, the company did not offer a live person on a customer service phone number. For most of those five years, there was no public phone number available.

Filling the void, scammers set up fake websites with fake phone numbers pretending to be Cash App’s customer service.

People would contact the fake Cash App, trust it and share personal financial information. This way, scammers easily gained control of victims’ bank accounts.

All Cash App had to do was create a real phone line and get the fakes flagged and removed. But it didn’t.

When people called the fake phone number, scammers asked them to download malware described as “a remote support application” or a “remote access tool.” Once inside a victim’s computer, crooks can do a lot of damage.

The federal legal action that Dorsey signed accused the company of denying customers’ fraud claims for months. The purpose was to tire them out from complaining, so eventually, exhausted, they’d give up.

That’s dastardly.

In its defense, the company argued that the accusations were “historical” and the issues have been resolved.

Block spokeswoman Lena Anderson responded to my inquiry by saying, “As Cash App has grown, we’ve significantly increased our investment in compliance and risk management, while serving millions of customers with critical, affordable financial services.

“We share our regulator’s commitment to addressing industry challenges and will continue to invest across our operations to help promote a safe and healthy fintech ecosystem.”

A blog on Block’s website notes that the company “strongly” disagrees with the government’s portrayal but settled to move on.

“The historical issues raised in this agreement do not reflect the Cash App experience today,” it added.

‘Protect against fraud’

According to court filings, the company saved money by not having to issue refunds — even though in some cases it should have.

The only way to reach humans in the company was by social media, by mailed letter, through the app or by website. Even then, many couldn’t get the help they needed.

Cash App, the legal action stated, “reassured customers that it would protect against fraud, encouraged consumers to rely on Cash App as an alternative to a bank, and implied its platform was safe.”

There is the semblance of a happy ending here. I can almost hear Dorsey say, “If they’re going to accuse us of aiding and abetting scammers, let’s go the other way.”

The company’s website has become a database of scam information. There are anti-scam videos and instructional case studies. There’s even a highly-detailed, 21-page white paper called “How Cash App is Fighting Scams.”

But you can’t erase the past. This was no way to run a fintech company.

Dorsey may be a man of all trades, but surprisingly, when it came to treating his customers right, he didn’t know jack.

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