Help Center
How can we help you?

I accidentally paid a stranger on Venmo

Payments on Venmo generally can’t be canceled once they’ve reached the recipient’s Venmo account, even if you accidentally paid the wrong person.

If you sent a Venmo payment to an unregistered phone number or email address, you should be able to "take back" the pending payment

Note: Opening a dispute on a payment you sent to the wrong person will not rectify the situation.

Payment sent to someone you know?

  • Send them a charge request for the same amount.  
  • Add a short note explaining the mistake.  
  • Once they accept, the money will be returned to your Venmo account.

Payment sent to a stranger?

We’ll do our best to help. Please contact Support and have the following information ready::

  1. Username of the person that you sent the payment to
  2. Amount of the payment
  3. Date of the payment
  4. Username, phone number, and email address of the person that you meant to pay

To reach the Venmo Support team, go to Me > Settings > Get Help > Chat With Us in your Venmo app and ask for an agent.  

You can check out Connect with Support on the Contact Us page for other options.

Related Articles

Payment from a Stranger