Cash App Flip Scams – How to Spot One and Stay Safe

Let’s see how the Cash App flip scam works, how to recognize the signs, and how to keep your money safe!

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may make a commission at no cost to you. Please read my full disclosure for more info

What are Cash App flip scams?

At its core, the Cash App Flip scam is when someone sends you a message (or you see a post on social media) to send them a certain amount of money (usually small), and then you will get an even larger amount sent back to you; aka money flipping.

Cash App scammers will often promise to give you a larger amount of money or “flip” your money if you first send them a smaller amount. They will typically say that they need to verify your identity or that there are taxes or fees associated with the transaction. Don’t fall for it!

Sad to say, there are a lot of Cash App scammers out there, and their stories vary. One person may tell you it’s part of a Cash App giveaway deal; another person may tell you that you’ll be part of a whole chain of people participating. 

While another will tell you that there’s a money glitch in the Cash App system, so you have to do it right now before they fix this thing on the app. Whatever the story, it’s still the same money flip scam.

Cash App $100 to $800

Sometimes these money flipping scams closely resemble traditional pyramid schemes, where you have to get a certain number of your friends to get in on it too, so that it works. These are sometimes called Blessing Loom schemes.

With the pandemic, there is a lot of interest in companies that are raking in huge profits while regular everyday Americans are struggling and suffering. The scammer says something like, “I’m tired of big tech/pharma taking advantage of us, and I know how to stick it to them!”

Or, the scammer says that they have special software that can change things in the Cash App system or that they know someone in customer service who can edit a transaction, so it sends you a larger amount. The worst part about these scams is that they play off real-life scenarios and people’s real fears.

So for the Cash App $100 to $800 flip, here’s how it starts. They tell you that you need to prove that you’re the real thing, so they’ll do a small flip with you first to test your trustworthiness. So they tell you to send them $3 (or some low number), and then they’ll flip that money and send you back $30.

So you do it; after all, it’s only $3. But to your amazement, it works! You get $30 sent to your $Cashtag! NICE!

So then the scammer “believes you,” and you’re now trustworthy enough to do the larger flip. So they go for the full Cash App $100 to $800 flip and tell you to send them $100, and you’ll get back $800. It worked last time, so why wouldn’t it work this time?

You send the $100, and they block you, and you never hear from them again. The end, bye-bye $100.

These flip amounts can be any amount; it can be $5 for $50, $10 for $100, $500 for $5,000. But whatever the amount is, don’t fall for it.

Is there a Cash App money glitch?

No, sad to say there is no Cash App free money glitch; that’s fake news. Sure, it would be nice to get a lot of money to do a few simple tasks, but that is not how things work in reality.

Here’s the deal with the Cash App money glitch; let’s dispel this mythical unicorn way of getting free money on Cash App once and for all so you can move on to learn how to get free money on the app legitimately.

The Cash App money glitch (it should be called the Cash App scam) is where people promote that you can get a lot of money by doing a simple thing, such as redownloading the latest version of Cash App and then doing a task. They kindly show you how to do it in a YouTube video.

Since you see them sharing their phone screen in the video, and you can see it working (aka their balance growing), as they talk you through the steps, you think it’s legit.

Their app is a dummy app, made to look like Cash App. Anyone can have a basic app made for super cheap; it doesn’t need to work; it just needs to look like the real Cash App and look like it works.

So you download the sketchy app (linked in the video) that most likely puts malware on your phone, stealing and selling your info. They ask you for all sorts of info, and you input it, and that’s more juice for them to sell.

But why do they do it? Money.

Their video gets watched hundreds of thousands of times, which means ad revenue for them. Their hack may also involve downloading other apps, which they give you their affiliate link (equals more money for them). They also sell your info multiple times over; that’s more money for them.

Okay, that was depressing. I know, I’m sorry; as your mama probably said, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.

But isn’t there that 750 Cash App reward? Well, yes.. but let’s talk about it.

What about the 750 Cash App rumor?

The 750 Cash App reward is based in truth vaguely, but there are a lot of red flags with this. Reward Zone USA offers this reward. There’s no official fraud warning put out by the US DOJ, but the Better Business Bureau has received over 800 complaints.

However, RewardZone seems to reply to each complaint, and it looks like they are working with the customer; who knows how it ends up though. Here’s the process for the Cash App 750 reward.

• You have to complete all the steps in the offer to earn $750, and some of them require payment. You have to do them all 100% of the way.
• They require a lot of your personal information, and you can’t leave anything out or falsify info. If you do, they will cancel your reward.
• They ask for a copy of your driver’s license to get paid. RewardZone USA claims it uses your ID to verify that you are at least 18 years old and a US citizen.

The obvious red flags are handing over a lot of personal information that they probably sell and then being asked to purchase items as part of the process.

People have claimed to have gotten this reward, but they could be fake profiles that are put up and made to show that people do get rewarded, all to make it seem more legitimate.

Fake Cash App Giveaways & Sweepstakes

Since the Cash App giveaways are so well known, people try and play off of it and do their own “sweepstakes” trying to pass their account off as the real Cash App. You follow their instructions (see below), and then they come back and email you that you need to give them a small fee to secure your spot.

Or that you won, and you need to send them money to verify your account. Or that you need to give them your login info to verify your account. There are a number of different plays on this fake giveaway scam.

Fake Cash App payment generator

A fake cash app payment screenshot generator is a site/tool/situation that creates a fake screenshot image that looks like you’ve been paid through Cash App.

People charge money to make this screenshot for you, and they will ask you to input your Cash App username and how much money you want in the screenshot, etc. They make the graphic, send it to you (in exchange for payment), and you send it to someone to “prove” that you’ve sent them money.

This fake graphic makes it seem that you’ve been paid and that the transaction must be in process. The person tells you to give it a minute to come through. So you take this “pending payment” as legit, and you give them something in return. Usually, it’s part of a flip scam.

There are several fake cash app payment screenshot generators that users use to create false payment slips, receipts, payment screenshots, cash app balance screenshots, etc. Basically, anything you want to fake, you can make it. There are also sites/people that will make videos showing fake screen scrolling.

People are inventive (if only they put that much effort into legitimate ways to make money). As we mentioned with the money glitch situation above, the people have had a fake app made. Again, it doesn’t need to work; it just needs to look like Cash App and appear to work. In one example I saw, the app was called Cash App+.

I’m not going to link to or show the apps/videos as they earn ad revenue each time people watch them or click through. I don’t want to line their pockets anymore, so that’s why I’m not showing you. I know you’re curious to see them, but let’s not help them.

Just take my word that some look pretty real, and some look pretty fake. But they all have some guy telling you how he made thousands of dollars in a few hours just by doing this one hack, and you can do it too; just click their link to get started!”

With all the resources on the internet, there are many programs that you can use to make a fake image. All you need is Photoshop or Canva and some patience to create an image that looks great.

In fact, I made a fake balance screenshot to use in a Pin image to promote this post. I have zero intention of using it as a way to scam people; I just needed an image to use to show people that this post is about “Cash App.”

It took me less than 10 minutes to make this image, and I gave up partway through because I was tired of trying to tweak it. And I’m just using the free version of Canva. So imagine what I could do if I were invested in this, with a great program.

My horrible fake balance image is a bad copy, but it was easy to do, WHICH PROVES that anyone can make a fake image.

Take a look at the image and see if anything looks off. If it does, then that’s probably because it’s fake. But here are some things you can specifically look for:

How to spot a fake cash app payment screenshot generator image

While some images are terrible, there are some that look extremely real and legitimate. Here are a few things to look for when examining an image.

• Look at the image elements, are some sharp and some blurry? If so, then the image has been altered.
• Look for shadowing on the image. Are some shadows going in one direction, and then other shadows going in a different direction?
• Look at the green color. Is it slightly off? The Cash App brand color is #05C44F
• Look at the font. Cash App uses a sans serif font (rounded edges).
• Do elements look distorted, one side being bigger, bending, or shifted?
• Are their edges in the background? I.e., white background that then goes to a slightly different shade of white?
• Low-quality images alongside high-quality ones.
• Is the spacing off between elements?

Here’s a horrible fake image that I found on Twitter; I’ve circled the areas to show that it’s fake. Let’s start at the top markups and work down…

• Blue – Is this supposed to be an account profile icon? That’s not at all what it looks like
• Yellow – see the white shade difference under the yellow? Something was there, but they tried to white it out.
• Pink – the font used for the numerical balance is wrong. It’s similar but not quite right.
• Red – these two elements are supposed to be above the grey buttons, not below them.
• Orange – there is supposed to be more verbiage here.
• Green – the bank icon and the balance amount should be flip-flopped, with the amount being black and the bank icon being grey.
• Purple – this is not what the investment icon looks like. Also, note that the spacing between all the icons on the bottom is off.

If you’re looking at an image this hard to see if it’s a fake, you should follow your gut and believe it’s a fake. As they say – better safe than sorry.

How to tell if a transaction is real

The only way to tell if the payment is genuine or counterfeit is to go to your profile and check whether the money has been credited to your account.

Cash App referral hack (lie)

There are a few different versions of this one, but they all involve someone trying to get you to sign up with their referral code. They’ll say that if you sign up for Cash App and use their code, you’ll get a bonus (which is true), but it’s higher than if you sign up with anyone else’s code (this is the fake part).

Once you sign up and input a referral code, it’s locked in. So once you put it in and then realize it’s only $5 and you’ve been lied to, it’s too late, and your account is locked in.

Cash App periodically changes the sign-up bonus amount that they offer. It’s usually between $5 – $15, and the person referring you gets money too, usually between $5 and $30. This amount depends on when you sign up. So if someone tells you that you’ll get $50 using their sign-up link – that’s a lie.

If you’re looking for a referral code so you can get your sign-up bonus then I’d be honored if you used mine. You’ll get $5 and I’ll get $5; plain & simple – no funny business. Click the green button below to sign up and get your free $5.

Puppy/Apartment Cash App Scam

I have no idea why this is a thing, but it is. So the way it works is that someone will post on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or somewhere similar that they’re selling a puppy/apartment/whatever for super cheap. And all you have to do is pay them through Cash App to hold it for you.

Once you’ve paid them, they’ll block you, and you’re out the money with no way of getting it back.

How to spot a Cash App scam – the 7 signs

Now that you know what cash flipping is and how the scam works, let’s look at some ways you can spot it.

1) They promise to double or triple your money. This is the most common way these scammers lure people in. Be wary of buzz words – be aware of specific phrases that raise a red flag, such as guaranteed, no risk, high return, etc. Nothing is a guarantee.

2) They use high-pressure tactics. They may say that you need to act now, or the deal will be gone, or that there are only a limited number of spots available. They want to rush you into making a decision before you have a chance to think about it or do any research.

3) They are on social media. Scammers will often reach out to people on social media, in groups, or by direct message. They may try to build a relationship with you before asking you to do the flip.

4) They have proof! If they volunteer to show you testimonials that they are legit and that people have been paid (these are fake too).

5) You’re “friends.” If they pretend to be someone you know, look closely at their $Cashtag. Verify and double-check all recipient information before sending any payment to confirm you are sending money to the correct person. Once it’s sent, you can’t get that money back.

7) Avoid Phishing scams. Phishing is when people/sites/email are pretending to be a rep of the company and try and get confidential info out of you to do bad things. Verified emails from Cash App will always come from a…

• @cash.app
• @square.com
• @squareup.com
• [email protected] (If you have a brokerage account)

If it’s a phone call and they say they are a customer support person with Cash App, then know that no Cash App customer service person will ever ask for your login info. At most, a customer service rep might ask you for the last four digits of your linked bank account.

Cash Support will never require you to send a payment, make a purchase, download any application for “remote access,” or complete a “test” transaction of any kind. (Cash App support).

It’s interesting that Cash App basically says they aren’t liable if you fall prey to a phishing scam. They say, “you likely won’t be able to recover funds lost if you give a third party access to your account by calling a fake number and providing sensitive information like your PIN or sign-in code.”

If someone keeps bugging you, you can block and report them on Cash App.

1. Launch the Cash App and tap on a Customer Avatar to view a profile. You can also search for a profile by entering a Name, $Cashtag, Phone Number, or Email.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the profile and tap on ‘Report’ or ‘Block.’
3. Select one of the options and follow the next steps.

How to protect yourself from a Cash App scam

Protecting yourself is easy; all you have to do is not engage with strangers mentioning Cash App (or any other payment app, i.e., PayPal, Venmo, etc.).

Please don’t reach out to a potential scammer that you saw on a social media platform or in a YouTube video, don’t click on their links, and don’t comment on anything. Because every time you click, comment, or like/heart, it leaves an internet trail for the scam artist to retarget you.

If someone reaches out to you about a great opportunity, don’t respond; just block them (if the app you’re using has that functionality).

If you’re a victim of a Cash App flip scam

Sad to say, but your money is probably gone, and there’s nothing you can do to get it back because once transactions are sent, it’s done. Of course, you can send them a money request, but I don’t think that will work. You should report it though, as any and all info helps Cash App and authorities crackdown on scammers. Here’s how to do that.

To report a potential scam payment, follow these steps:

1. Tap the profile icon in the top right corner
2. Tap Support
3. Select Report a Payment Issue
4. Select the payment and follow the steps

If the scam is associated with a potential scammer account instead of a specific transaction, report and block a potential scam artist account by following these steps:

1. Login to Cash App and click on the users’ profile icon. You can also search for a profile by entering a name, $Cashtag, phone number, or an email address.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the profile and tap on ‘Report’ or ‘Block.’
3. Select one of the options and follow the next steps

You can also reach out to the Cash Support team through https://cash.app/contact.

The next best thing you can do is tell people about it. Yes, it might be embarrassing. But if you fell for it, then others will fall for it too. The more people you tell, the more that info gets out and gets known. You could save someone else from becoming a victim by sharing your story.

Are there legitimate Cash App flips?

Yup, there are legitimate ways to make money on Cash App; I go through them all in detail. But let’s do a quick rundown right here. I’m not sure that I would call them flips though.

A money flip is when you turn a small amount into a larger amount with little to no work. So they could be considered flips, but not all the way. But, if you’re interested in money flipping, be sure to check out our guide on how to easily flip money online.

New user sign up bonus

Cash App offers a $5 sign-up bonus when you use a referral code when you sign up. So if you know someone with Cash App, ask them for their code (or if you want, you can use my Cash App referral code, it helps put out more money-savvy content on this site), and use it when you sign up.

Once you do that, you need to send someone $5 via the app within 14 days. Once you do that, Cash App will give you $5, and so will the person who referred you. You can read the step by step instructions on how to use the Cash App free money code here.

IMPORTANT…

But I’m out $5, how is that free money?

Yes, you had to send someone $5 to qualify for the bonus requirements, but that person can immediately send that money back to you! In fact, it works great if you and a friend sign up at the same time, you can send each other money and you will both qualify.

If you don’t have someone to sign up with, you can send me the $5 at $KariMFTM, or scan the QR code below, and then in the note section just say “I read the blog and I opened an account. Please send $5 back” And I will send it back to you. (YOU MUST ADD THE NOTE OR I WON’T KNOW YOU’RE A READER).

I know that sounds odd, but I promise, I’ll send it back to you. It may take me a few hours, depending on how often I check in with the app but the next time I open it and then see it, I’ll send it back.

Win a sweepstakes

There are legitimate Cash App giveaways or sweepstakes happening. The best way to find out about them is to follow relevant hashtags on Twitter, such as:

• #cashappgiveaway
• #cashappfriday

Remember, these legitimate giveaways only come from their official Twitter account. Sometimes they even have design contests because you can design your own Cash Card.

Here are lots of Cash App card design ideas to help you think up the perfect design to win that prize money!

Investing in stocks & Bitcoin 

You can also make money on Cash App by investing in stocks and Bitcoin. You can buy and sell both, although offerings are limited. Again, there are no guarantees with investments; you can lose all your money just as easily as having your portfolio go up $100.

However, Cash App makes it very easy to get started, which is usually the hardest part for people. So get started here (if you’re interested), and then once you gain some confidence, transition to a platform that’s 100% dedicated to investing. M1 Finance has more functionality and better investment options than many investment firms, so be sure to check them out.

Refer your friends

Cash App offers a referral program where you get a bonus each time you refer a friend. At this time, you get $5 for every friend that you refer to Cash App, and they get $5 as well.

You can find your referral code by opening up the Cash App, tapping on your account profile icon, and clicking the “Invite Friends, get $5” to send them a text or email to sign up.

Remember: This is what you used when you signed up for Cash App.

Direct Deposit Bonus

Deposit paychecks to unlock this $50 – $100 Boost. Once you reach $300 in paycheck deposits in a given month, you’ll get $100 off any Cash Card purchase of $100 or more.

This offer is targeted. Check your Boost offers in the app, and hopefully, you will find it listed there.

At the end of the day

There are a lot of scams out there, but there are also legitimate ways to make money with Cash App. The best way to protect yourself is to be aware of the scams and only engage with people you know and trust.

If you’re looking for legitimate ways to make money on Cash App, I recommend taking advantage of the refer a friend program and keeping a close eye on your Cash App Boosts.

I hope I haven’t scared you off Cash App. It really is a great way to pay your friends and save money (with their boosts) while also having the opportunity to earn money as well. Just be smart, treat Cash App just like regular cash; play it safe, and you’ll be fine!

Articles related to Cash App flip:

• How to Get Free Money on Cash App
• How to Flip Money – Yes, it Can be Easy!
• 75 Legit Free Money Hacks
• How to Max Out Your Cash App Free Money Code

Remember, it if sounds too good to be true, then it’s probably a Cash App flip scam! Play it safe and keep your hard-earned money in your own bank account!