A stolen SSN pinned a $1,000 scam on the wrong woman; Block settled Cash App fraud claims for $12 million
A Pennsylvania woman faces six years over a scam account opened with her stolen SSN, and Block has agreed to a $12 million settlement over Cash App's fraud controls, all in the same week its analysts see a rerating ahead.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
Amanda Smith, 47, was arrested at her Pennsylvania home in April on a warrant out of Arkansas, a state she says she has never visited 23. The charge: computer fraud in a $1,000 Facebook Marketplace scam 23. The evidence against her was a Cash App−2.64% — Cash App, down 2.64 percent today account, $Smithy5687, opened at the end of January with her Social Security number and date of birth 23. That was enough for investigators to put her name on the case. 23
She spent three nights in jail. Her lawyer, Jason Horton, is moving to dismiss before trial; a hearing comes in November, and Smith has refused a plea deal carrying three years of probation for a crime she says she did not commit. 23
The records pointed at her, everything else pointed away
Investigators got the account records from Block, Cash App's parent company, under a search warrant. What came back implicated her by SSN and birth date, but the rest of the record points elsewhere. The account ran iOS 16.1.1 on a Verizon−1.49% — Verizon, down 1.49 percent today mobile IP; Smith's iPhone 13 mini runs iOS 26.5.2 on AT&T−6.75% — AT&T, down 6.75 percent today, where she has never been a Verizon customer. 23
The Philadelphia address on the account is not one she or her husband ever lived at. A Venmo account under a different name used the same phone number a week earlier. When Smith herself asked Cash App for information, the company refused: she could not prove she owned the account. Block did not respond to questions about how it verifies who is behind an account. 23
The same week, Block put a price on its identity checks
On October 9, plaintiffs David Tucker and Lucille Moragne asked the Northern District of California to preliminarily approve a $12 million settlement of a class action alleging Block failed to maintain the Bank Secrecy Act's identity checks, transaction monitoring and suspicious-activity reporting on Cash App 1. Block won dismissal in December 2025, lost on the amend, and settled after a June mediation and twelve more weeks of talks. 1
Roughly 160 million current and former users get a notice email; Judge Maxine Chesney takes up the motion on November 13. 1
The $12 million fraud fund sits inside a loss line Block reports every quarter
- Estimate
Data
| Value | Range | |
|---|---|---|
| Proposed fraud settlement fund | 12 | — |
| Street: Q3 transaction and loan losses | 559 | — |
| BMO: Q3 transaction and loan losses (estimate) | 569 | — |
| BMO Borrow gross profit tailwind (estimate) | 180 | 180–400 |
The bull case and the fraud docket land in the same month
BMO upgraded Block to Outperform on October 22 with a $101 target, modeling third-quarter transaction and loan losses of $569 million against the Street's $559 million 4. If Cash App Borrow's loan limits are recalibrated through 2027, the firm estimates the six-week loan structure could add $180 million to $400 million of gross profit next year, with the stock's multiple stuck at 15 to 18 times earnings since February. 4
The ledger cuts both ways: an account opened with a stranger's SSN and birth date was enough to identify Smith, and the same identity checks sit under the class action. The $12 million fund prices what juries charge when that control fails, and Smith's case shows the cost can land on the customer, not the shareholder 41. Watch Block's third-quarter transaction and loan losses, modeled by BMO at $569 million 4, then the November 13 approval hearing. 1
What happens next
XYZWhether the fraud charges are dropped before trial, and whether she accepts the three-year probation plea deal she has so far refused
The case for
BMO upgraded Block to Outperform on October 22 with a $101 target
The case against
The $12 million settlement alleges Cash App skipped the Bank Secrecy Act's identity checks, transaction monitoring and suspicious-activity reporting
- November 2026Hearing on the motion to dismiss the charges against Amanda Smith.
- Fri Nov 13, 2026Preliminary-approval hearing on the $12 million Cash App class action settlement. Whether Judge Maxine Chesney preliminarily approves the $12 million fund and the notice to roughly 160 million users
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