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Complete Story
07/01/2019
P2P Payments Find Fans In The Black Market
PYMNTS.com
Peer-to-peer (P2P) payments continue to gain popularity among consumers, with two of the biggest providers, Zelle and Venmo, reporting ongoing and significant gains. But amid that growth is a fresh trend that could present challenges for law enforcement — the use of such payment methods for illicit transactions, including drug deals.
Official evidence of that is relatively sketchy, but it isn’t difficult these days to find a drug dealer or buyer who relies on mobile P2P payments for those types of transactions. It would seem not wise to use those methods for illegal transactions, but no matter the product, seamless payments appeal to all types of buyers and sellers.
P2P and Millennials
Surveys and other types of reports are taking note of this apparent trend. For instance, according to one report from LendEDU, a student loan refinancing company, about 33 percent of millennials had paid for drugs via Venmo — and that was in late 2017. About a fifth, by comparison, had used Venmo for gambling. The report noted that “one interesting point is that any and all transactions made on Venmo will be on file, like a payment made with a credit card. Those who use Venmo for suspect transactions run the risk of leaving behind a paper trail that could come back to haunt them.”
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