Atlanta woman warning about 'cyber muggings' using payment app

An Atlanta woman is warning people about an app used by many every day that has an open door to your finances you might even not think about.

Cyber mugging. That’s how Carly Miller described to the FOX 5 I-Team what happened to her. She is a tech-savvy 20-something who was nearly taken for all of her money. 

"He was sitting here on these steps, and I was, like, sitting right here in my car," she said. 

On a street near Atlantic Station, Miller had been visiting friends. It was daylight, around 5 p.m.

"A man approached my driver seat window, asked me if he could borrow my phone, said he couldn't get into his apartment. He did preface it with, ‘Don't worry. I'm not a bad guy,’" Miller said.

She was smart enough to not hand over her phone. Instead, she dialed the number for him and put it on speaker. 

"He said something like, 'I'm outside. Can you let me in?' And she mumbled something and said 'Text this person instead," she said.

She had a decision to make now. Does she hand him the phone? It was daylight. The street was busy. People were walking their dogs. 

"I didn't feel like anything was going to happen. I wasn't hesitating. I was, like, sure, of course," she said.

After about a minute, he handed back the phone. 

"He said, ‘If anyone responds tell them I’m outside waiting by the brick.’"

And he sat there, on the wall by the door, as she pulled off. 

"So I just turned my music on. I’m pretty sure it was Taylor Swift, and I blasted that, and I drove home. I’m, like, life is good. I'm helping out this person," she said. 

In a report she later filed with Atlanta police, Miller said she got home and received an email from her bank. Someone had attempted a $4,200 charge to her Venmo account at 5 p.m. 

"Immediately I realized what happened. I panicked. I called my dad first. I call my dad for everything," Miller said.

The police report shows this whole event logged on her smartphone took no more than four minutes. Quickly, she canceled her cards associated with her checking account and changed her passwords.

"Then I went into Venmo. And as soon as I opened Venmo I went, ah! It all clicked. There was no password on this app. You can just open this app, hit pay or request, put any number in the world, any amount in the world," she said. 

In settings, Venmo does have security features - like facial recognition and a PIN - but it’s not there by default. You need to add this extra layer of protection yourself. As with any app connected to your financial accounts, make sure it’s locked. Even double locked. 

The FOX 5 I-Team called the two numbers used in this scam. When Dana Fowle identified herself, the woman and the male hung up on me.

In the end, Miller was lucky. She simply didn’t have that much money sitting in her checking account, so the would-be thief got nothing. And she learned a lesson. 

"I didn't know how to explain it to my family, but I got cyber mugged."

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