Are Square accounts protected from fraud?

Have you been the victim of fraud? Maybe you had a fraudulent Square account open in your name and now you are on the hook for a lot of money that you didn’t authorize. With companies like Square, you can face a whole host of financial ramifications especially when you have bank accounts linked to your Square account. So what can you do when Square won’t act? Are there any other options?

Tired of talking in circles with customer service? File an official claim instead:

Are checking accounts protected from fraud?

Much like credit cards, checking accounts have protections against fraud under Federal Reserve Regulation E. This law means that if there are fraudulent transactions on your checking account, and you report them, you don’t have to pay for them.

Do banks reimburse stolen money?

Banks will usually reimburse the stolen money especially if your account comes with a zero liability feature. Legally, as long as you report it immediately, you are only liable for up to $50 maximum, but if you wait over 60 days before you realize someone committed fraud on your account and try to report it, chances are you won’t get any reimbursement and if there are overdraft fees associated with any fraudulent transactions you will be responsible for them.

Lost funds to scammers? Get Square to act:

Contact Square to report fraud

In order to limit your liability, you need to contact your bank as soon as possible. Remember that you are only responsible for up to $50 maximum, unless your bank offers a zero liability policy, but only if you reach out to them within two days of the fraudulent charges.

Unfortunately Square doesn’t make it easy. They do say to contact them right away, but their contact page is just an email account so there’s no phone number you can call even though time is a factor.

Their help page tells you to reset your password, and submit another document online to review your account if you are unable to login. This makes it a little difficult to report fraud in a timely fashion, something that is very upsetting for a lot of customers who know that it is their responsibility to do that. 

Do banks really investigate fraud?

Yes, they actually investigate these claims. Not only do they have to and it’s typically company policy, but it’s in their best interest. If companies don’t investigate these claims, they can keep happening which costs them more money and causes more customers to be victimized.

Related: How to Spot and Report Illegal and Unfair Banking

What can a scammer do with my bank account number?

If a scammer gets a hold of your Square account, they can then access things like your bank account number and once they have your bank account number they can take all your money.

1. Scammers can write checks that they order from your account and they can do a lot of checks in a very short amount of time before you even realize that fraud is happening. This can be checks to themselves or checks to different companies.
2. Scammers can simply transfer money from your bank account to another bank account, draining everything you have over the weekend.
3. Scammers can transfer money into your account which might seem cool until you realize that it constitutes money laundering and you could be in trouble.

What to Do If They Won’t Help

But what if you’ve done all this and it’s still not getting you anywhere? What if they refuse to give you the refund or it’s been months and you haven’t heard anything? At FairShake we can help. Contact our team today to learn more about consumer arbitration and other legal paths available to you.