A $497.45 mystery deposit and a Venmo repayment request: the classic clawback setup
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on September 29, 2026.
Absolutely no HR department would ask you to return money via venmo. This is absolutely a scam until proven otherwise.
A $497.45 deposit from an employer three years gone, followed by an email asking for Venmo repayment, is the classic setup: send the cash, then watch the original deposit get reversed. Let the bank claw it back instead, and never repay a payroll error through an app that offers no recourse.
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User abrokenshadow posted to r/povertyfinance explaining that a former employer, three years after the working relationship ended, deposited $497.45 into their account. The money landed on autopay billing day, meaning a chunk of it was spent before the deposit was even noticed.
Shortly after, an email arrived asking for the money back via Venmo. The original explanation was a name mix-up: a current bartender shares the same last name, and the paycheck apparently landed in the wrong account. The poster is now worried about liability, particularly since they have since moved from Colorado to Washington state.
The top comment, from user DreyHI, scored 941 upvotes and was unambiguous: no legitimate HR department requests repayment through Venmo. The broader comment section backed that up repeatedly, with multiple users pointing out that a real payroll team can simply reverse the bank transfer without involving the recipient at all.
The scam mechanics described in the comments follow a known pattern: the fraudster initiates a deposit, pressures the target into sending cash through an app with no buyer protection, and then reverses the original deposit, leaving the victim out both the app payment and the clawed-back funds. If the deposit is legitimate, the employer can recover it through the bank directly, so sending anything via Venmo first is the trap.