Woman Faces Years in Prison Over a Cash App Account She Says She Never Opened
Woman Faces Years in Prison Over a Cash App Account She Says She Never Opened
A Cash App account opened in her name has left Amanda Smith facing criminal charges and potentially up to six years in prison. 🚨 404 Media reports that Smith claims someone used her Social Security number (SSN) and date of birth to create an account that received money from a Facebook Marketplace scam. Investigators obtained account information from Block, Cash App’s parent company, which included Smith’s SSN and date of birth.
Police subsequently arrested her in Pennsylvania over the alleged crime in Arkansas, a state she says she had never visited. However, 404 Media’s review of account records found that several account details, including the address and network used, did not match her own.
Smith described a frustrating obstacle when she tried to investigate: “Cash App refused to provide me with any information about the account, because I couldn’t prove that I was the owner.” The account was associated with her closely enough to contribute to her arrest, yet she said she could not get information directly from the company.
It’s a disturbing reminder that the consequences of identity theft can go well beyond an unfamiliar charge on your bank statement. You could also find yourself accused of a crime committed using your details. Smith suspects that information exposed in a data breach may have been used to impersonate her. When investigating, 404 Media found the phone number used for the account linked to an Amanda Smith in older breach data.
Her experience highlights why it matters to know which of your details have been exposed. The practical lesson is to look beyond the headline that a company “lost customer data.” What matters is which information was exposed, because different exposures call for different responses.
Tips for Protecting Yourself Against Identity Theft:
- Check your credit reports for unfamiliar accounts.
- In the US, you can freeze your credit for free with each of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. This helps prevent new credit accounts from being opened in your name, but does not prevent every type of identity misuse.
- If you discover an account opened in your name, contact the company’s fraud department through its official website and report the identity theft (in the US you can do that at IdentityTheft.gov).
- Keep copies of your reports and correspondence, and ask for written confirmation when the fraudulent account is closed.