99% of Venmo User Data is Exposed (3 Hidden Settings You Need to Know About)

Here’s how to stop scammers, stalkers, and data brokers from tracking your payments.

Most people don’t think twice about Venmo’s public payment feed.

Maybe you’ve laughed at a funny transaction between friends or scrolled through strangers sending each other rent, pizza money, or “mystery” payments.

But here’s what most people never realize:

✔ Your entire transaction history is public too—right now
✔ Scammers, stalkers, and data brokers are using this more than you think
✔ Deleting a payment doesn’t erase its record—it’s still logged in Venmo’s system

It’s not just an embarrassing feature—it’s a huge security risk.

Journalists, hackers, and even law enforcement have used Venmo’s public transactions to track politicians and influencers.

But it’s not just big names at risk.

• Exes have tracked their former partners' new relationships through Venmo

• Fraudsters use Venmo’s feed to find new scam targets

• Data brokers collect Venmo activity to build profiles on YOU

Most people assume Venmo is private—but 99% of users never change their default settings.

That means right now, your payments are likely public too.

If you’ve never checked your Venmo privacy settings, let’s do it right now.

Here’s what you need to know.

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What Can Someone Do With Your Venmo Transactions? More Than You Think.

Venmo’s public feed isn’t just a quirky social feature—it’s a goldmine for scammers, hackers, and stalkers.

Because even if you’re just sending your friend money for tacos, that tiny transaction can reveal way more about you than you realize.

1. Scammers use it to build trust. Ever get a random Venmo request? Some fraudsters research their targets first. By seeing your real Venmo activity, they can impersonate a friend, landlord, or employer and trick you into sending money.

2. Cyberstalkers track people’s relationships. A woman in NYC found out her boyfriend was cheating—not through texts, but by watching his Venmo transactions. He was constantly sending payments to another woman—complete with flirty emojis. Busted!

3. Data brokers collect & sell your financial patterns. The payments you make, the places you send money to, even the notes you write—all of this gets scooped up by third-party data collectors. Ever notice that after paying for a meal, you suddenly get restaurant ads? That’s not a coincidence.

4. Hackers connect Venmo data to your other online accounts. Most people use the same usernames, emails, and phone numbers across multiple services. If your Venmo is public, it gives hackers another piece of the puzzle to target your accounts elsewhere.

📌Pro Tip:

Secure payments are one of the most important things you can get right or get very wrong online. Be sure you’re making secure payments with my free checklist: Online Shopping Security Checklist

Venmo isn’t just a payment app—it’s an open diary of your financial life.

And if you don’t lock it down, you’re giving away more information than you realize.

Now, let’s fix that.

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Fix These 3 Settings Right Now (Before Someone Exploits Your Info)

If you’ve never changed your Venmo privacy settings, your transaction history is likely public.

That means anyone—scammers, exes, data brokers—can see your payments, who you send money to, and even your personal notes.

Let’s fix that in 60 seconds.

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1. Make Your Transactions Private (The Most Important Fix)

By default, every Venmo payment you make is PUBLIC.

Here’s how to change it:
1️⃣ Open Venmo and go to Settings (⚙️ icon in the top right).
2️⃣ Tap Privacy → Select Private under “Default Privacy Settings.”
3️⃣ Bonus: Set past transactions to private by tapping “Past Transactions” → “Change All to Private.”

💡 Why This Matters: This hides all your payments from strangers permanently.

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2. Stop Venmo From Sharing Your Friends List

Most people don’t realize Venmo exposes your full friends list.

This means anyone can see who you interact with—exes, coworkers, even random people searching your name.

To disable this:
1️⃣ Go to Settings → Privacy
2️⃣ Scroll to Friends List → Change to “Only Me”

💡 Why This Matters: Scammers use your friends list to impersonate people you know in order to bypass your trust.

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3. Remove Yourself From Public Search

Even if you don’t post transactions publicly, your account is still searchable.

Here’s how to hide it:
1️⃣ Go to Settings → Privacy
2️⃣ Toggle OFF “Appear in other users’ friend lists”

💡 Why This Matters: This prevents random people from finding your Venmo by name or phone number.

Bonus tip

3️⃣ Stop Venmo from accessing your contacts (this helps keep your friends’ data private)

Even though Venmo no longer has a setting to disable “Find Friends,” you can still prevent the app from pulling your phone contacts by blocking its permissions manually.

On iPhone (iOS)

1. Open Settings → Scroll down and tap Venmo

2. Find Contacts and toggle it OFF

3. (Bonus) While you’re here, disable Location, Bluetooth, and Background App Refresh to limit tracking

On Android

1. Open Settings → Tap Apps → Find Venmo

2. Tap Permissions → Select Contacts

3. Choose “Deny” to prevent Venmo from accessing your contact list

💡 Why This Matters:
Venmo won’t automatically add your contacts as “friends”
Prevents Venmo from scanning your address book for new users
Reduces unnecessary data collection linked to your personal network

Find out more ways data brokers are outsmarting you here:

Your Data is Worth Thousands—Here’s Who’s Selling It (And How to Stop It)

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You Locked Down Venmo—But What About the Rest of Your Digital Life?

Your Venmo is now secure. That’s one less vulnerability to worry about.

But here’s the hard truth: Venmo isn’t the only place your personal and payment data is at risk.

• Online Shopping: Every time you check out, your card details are saved—often without your knowledge. Some retailers sell your transaction history to advertisers who track your spending habits.

• Other Payment Apps: Cash App, PayPal, Zelle—they all have hidden settings that expose your transactions and personal data. Most people never think to lock them down.

• Data Brokers: Your name, phone number, and even past purchases are sitting in databases right now—waiting to be exploited, leaked, or sold to the highest bidder.

The real question is: How much of your personal data is still out there?

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Here’s the Next Step

If you want to keep your financial and personal data secure everywhere you go, you need a full strategy—not just a few setting tweaks.

Identity theft is on the rise and data brokers will never stop trying to get access to your data in order to sell it to the highest bidder.

I’ve put together a proven system that will protect you and your family.

The Digital Privacy Toolkit

These are the exact steps I’ve used to help dozens of people secure their digital footprint. Some of them after already being hacked.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• Personal Cybersecurity Checklist: Simple steps to protect yourself from online threats.

• Identity Theft Prevention Guide: Learn how to prevent and respond to identity theft.

• Home Network Security Tips: Secure your home Wi-Fi and connected devices.

• Data Privacy Guide: Understand how to control who accesses your personal information.

• Social Media Privacy Settings: Manage what you share and with whom.

• Opting Out of Data Brokers Guide: Stop the data brokers from profiting off your information

Most people will read this and do nothing.

They’ll assume it won’t happen to them.

Until it does.

Until they get hit with a fraudulent charge.
Until they find their personal data floating around the internet.
Until it’s too late to stop it.

You can take five minutes today to start protecting yourself—or you can wait until you're the next victim.

The choice is yours.

Get the toolkit now and make sure your data stays yours.

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What’s the Strangest Venmo Transaction You’ve Seen?

Now that you know how much Venmo gives away about its users, take a minute to scroll through your public feed.

Seen anything weird?
✔ A mysterious payment labeled “hush money”?
✔ Someone paying for “questionable activities” with a string of emojis?
✔ A transaction that made you think, “Wait… why is this public?”

Drop the strangest (or funniest) Venmo transaction you’ve ever seen in the comments.

And if this post opened your eyes to just how exposed your financial data is, do your friends a favor:

♻ Restack this post so they can lock down their own privacy settings before it’s too late.

Most people have no clue how much they’re sharing—until it’s pointed out to them.

They’ll thank you later.

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Community Mention

This week I’d like to acknowledge a fellow privacy advocate. This publication adds another level of perspective with a legal view. I love their content and I think you will too so go check out

Secrets of Privacy

Here’s one of my favorite posts:

The Myth of Outrunning Government Surveillance

Until next time…

Stay Informed. Stay Secure. Stay Curious.