Four Venmo users have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against PayPal in federal court in California. They claim the popular payment app shared their private transaction data with outside tracking companies. MLex, Law360, and Bloomberg Law all reported on the case on September 2, 2026. The four plaintiffs are Stacey Borquez, Remi Rundzio, Nathan Olson, and Lana Nava.
The lawsuit puts a spotlight on a serious privacy concern. Venmo is one of the most widely used payment apps in the United States. Millions of people use it to send money to friends, family, and businesses every day. Many of those users believed their private transactions stayed private. This lawsuit says that was not the case.
Tracking tools inside Venmo allegedly fed data to outside firms
At the centre of the case is how Venmo handled third-party tracking tools inside its app. According to Bloomberg Law, the plaintiffs claim PayPal built tracking software from two companies, mParticle and Kochava, directly into Venmo. Those tools allegedly collected information every time a user made a payment.
The data those tools picked up was not small or harmless. According to the report, it included full names, email addresses, and phone numbers. It also covered payment amounts, who the money was sent to, and the personal notes users typed in during transactions.
Those notes are a big part of why this case matters. When people send money on Venmo, they often type a short description of what the payment is for. Someone might write “therapy session,” “rent,” “legal fees,” or “recovery program.”
Those small notes can reveal deeply personal things about a person’s life. The plaintiffs say that kind of sensitive information ended up in the hands of outside companies focused on advertising and tracking.
The plaintiffs argue that PayPal gave those outside firms access to information users never agreed to share. They say users picked private settings on Venmo specifically to keep their transactions between themselves and the people they paid. Instead, according to the suit, that information travelled to companies they had never heard of and never consented to share data with.
Users say Venmo’s privacy promises did not hold up
The lawsuit also takes aim at what Venmo told its users. According to Law360, the complaint accuses PayPal of misleading users about how their personal information was being handled. The plaintiffs say Venmo gave users the impression that choosing a private setting would protect their transaction details. The suit claims that the promise did not hold up in practice.
The legal team behind the case argues that PayPal broke several privacy laws. Those include the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, a federal law that protects private digital communications.
The plaintiffs also point to California’s own privacy protections, which are among the strongest in the country. The lawsuit seeks to represent all other Venmo users who may have experienced the same type of data collection without their knowledge.
Financial apps sit in a unique position when it comes to privacy. A payment record is not just a number. It can reveal who a person sees, what they spend money on, where they live, and what struggles they may be going through.
That is why privacy experts often treat financial transaction data with extra care. The presence of ad-tracking tools inside a payment app raises real questions about how far that data travelled and who benefited from it.
What comes next for PayPal and Venmo users
The case is still in its early stages. The allegations are claims made by the plaintiffs and have not been proven in court. However, the lawsuit does raise questions that go beyond just these four users.
One important detail sits in Venmo’s current user agreement. The agreement includes an arbitration clause and a waiver that limits users from joining class-action lawsuits. Whether those terms apply here, and whether courts will enforce them, could shape how this case moves forward.
If the case continues, future court filings may reveal more about exactly how the tracking tools worked inside Venmo. They may also shed light on what mParticle and Kochava did with the data they allegedly received. The outcome could push payment companies across the industry to rethink how they use tracking software and how clearly they explain it to users.
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For now, Venmo users who selected private settings on their accounts may want to review what those settings actually cover. Anyone who believes their data was collected without their consent may also want to follow the progress of this case closely.
