ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (WHAT THE TECH?) — Venmo has become a very popular option to exchange cash payments easily and there is bank-level security but privacy concerns still exist.

Venmo is designed to be social. When you open an account, it adds your phone contacts as Venmo friends. Their names and spending show up in your feed. You can also see their friends, and their friends, and their friends.

Someone can see this person is interested in manicures and salons. Anyone then can find them on another social media platform and potentially send them phishing attempts with scam deals on what she’s interested in.

There’s no rational reason to make your spending habits known to everyone especially by people you don’t know. Go into your Venmo settings and choose Privacy. If it’s set to public or friends, change it to private. Your transactions will only be visible to the sender and recipient.

Go back a page and tap “friends list”, and make that private. And then, toggle off “appear in other users’ friends list. Their friends won’t see your name or activity.

“Enable Face ID” to log in, which will prevent a thief from sending themselves your money if they get your phone.

Don’t keep a lot of money in your Venmo wallet. Transfer it to your bank account.

You might even want to take it another step and open a separate checking account just for Venmo and keep a little money in there. If your Venmo account is ever compromised, they’d only be able to access that account and not your primary checking account.

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