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PayPal Holdings Inc.’s popular Venmo person-to-person payments service posted a review of the company’s anti-money-laundering and related security policies Sunday in the wake of transaction reviews triggered by certain keywords in Venmo messages that have slowed down the payments process.
“There has been recent discussion around specific keywords associated with payments within Venmo that have caused us to pause the transaction and review,” the post says. “We understand the frustration this may cause, and it’s important to us to take the time to address your concerns.” Users can tag a transaction with a keyword to identify the reason for the P2P payment, akin to the memo line on a check.
The post, titled “Keeping the Venmo Community Secure,” did not identify the problematic keywords or say how many transactions have come under review lately. A spokesperson did not reply to a Digital Transactions News request for comment Monday morning.
On Friday, however, the Internet news service The Verge reported that some of its readers were telling it of flagged transactions if they included the acronym “idek” in the note field of a Venmo transaction.
While “idek” for most online Americans means “I don’t even know,” it turns out that the acronym also could stand for Islami Dawat-e-Kafela, which is another name for Harakat Ul-Jihad-i-Islami, a radical Islamic organization in Bangladesh that the U.S. State Department listed in 2008 as a global terrorist organization.
Payments companies, of course, are banned from knowingly sending funds to terrorist groups. They must also screen transactions that could violate U.S. trade sanctions or may involve individuals, companies, or other organizations on the so-called specially designated nationals (SDN) list maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
“If your note appears to be in potential violation of any OFAC regulation, we are required by federal law to review your payment until we verify that it isn’t a true violation. Once we determine that it isn’t a true violation, then your payment will be processed as usual,” Venmo’s post emphasizes.
Venmo said it would contact the affected customer within 72 hours of an OFAC review about the status of a payment under review. “If we have further questions before we can approve the payment, or determine we cannot process the payment, we will contact you via email. We understand that this may cause an additional delay, and apologize for any inconvenience.”
A person receiving a Venmo payment could experience a delay if the sender mentions “a restricted good or entity in their payment,” the post also says. If the ensuing review determines a “true violation” of OFAC rules, the transaction will be blocked.
