Block, the company behind Cash App, agreed to a $45M settlement with 46 states over allegations it misled users about the payment app’s safety and failed to protect them from fraud. State investigators, led by Oregon and Texas, said Block pitched Cash App as bank-safe to unbanked users while fraud rose, ran a frictionless sign-up with weak identity checks, and offered no phone support for years, leaving locked-out users to call scam numbers. Block must now add 24-hour live phone support, stop misleading safety claims, end fraud-linked marketing like its ‘Cash App Fridays’ promotion, and properly investigate fraud and refund unauthorized transactions. Restitution of at least $75M that Block promised under a CFPB settlement is also backstopped, so states can enforce it after the current CFPB moved to cancel several such deals.
