Venmo heavily promotes its Instant Transfer feature, charging 1.75% (min $0.25, max $25) to move money “typically within 30 minutes.” But many users report paying that fee even though a free standard transfer path exists — one that Venmo deliberately de-emphasizes.

The app’s prompts, defaults, and small-print fee notices create dark pattern upsells that push users into paying unnecessarily. Worse, Venmo can delay, review, or decline an “instant” transfer but still keep the fee — a deceptive drip-pricing practice that hides the true cost of moving your money.

We’re investigating whether this violates state consumer protection and false advertising laws. The campaign seeks refunds for users who paid Instant Transfer fees, overdraft or NSF charges caused by them, and changes to Venmo’s app design so the free option is the default and “instant” really means instant.