--- title: "A stolen SSN pinned a $1,000 scam on the wrong woman; Block settled Cash App fraud claims for $12 million" description: "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." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Security" published: 2026-10-23T15:19:25.784Z modified: 2026-10-23T15:19:25.784Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/a-stolen-ssn-pinned-a-1-000-scam-on-the-wrong-woman-block-settled-cash-app-fraud-claims-for-12-million language: en keywords: "Cash App, Block, Fraud, Identity Theft, Litigation, Fintech" --- # 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. Amanda Smith, 47, was [arrested at her Pennsylvania home in April on a warrant out of Arkansas](https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/10/woman-faces-years-in-prison-over-a-cash-app-account-she-says-she-never-opened), a state she says she has never visited [2][3]. The charge: computer fraud in a $1,000 Facebook Marketplace scam [2][3]. The evidence against her was a [Cash App](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/block) account, $Smithy5687, opened at the end of January with her Social Security number and date of birth [2][3]. That was enough for investigators to put her name on the case. [2][3] 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. [2][3] ## 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](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/verizon) mobile IP; Smith's iPhone 13 mini runs iOS 26.5.2 on [AT&T](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/at-and-t), where she has never been a Verizon customer. [2][3] 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. [2][3] ## 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](https://www.claimdepot.com/cases/cash-app-class-action-alleges-block-failed-to-stop-pig-butchering-scams) 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] *Chart: **The $12 million fraud fund sits inside a loss line Block reports every quarter** Bar chart comparing the proposed $12 million Cash App fraud class action settlement fund, the Street's modeled $559 million in third-quarter transaction and loan losses, BMO's $569 million modeled losses, and BMO's estimated $180 to $400 million Cash App Borrow gross profit tailwind shown as a range.* *Millions of US dollars. The settlement fund is proposed, pending a November 13, 2026, preliminary-approval hearing. Q3 loss figures are analyst models for Block's third quarter, not reported results. The Borrow tailwind is BMO's estimate for next year, shown as the $180 to $400 million range the firm states. Sources: Claim Depot (2026), Investing.com via Yahoo Finance (2026). [1][4]* ## The bull case and the fraud docket land in the same month BMO [upgraded Block to Outperform on October 22 with a $101 target](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/bmo-lifts-block-outperform-sees-121713951.html), 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 [4][1]. Watch Block's third-quarter transaction and loan losses, modeled by BMO at $569 million [4], then the November 13 approval hearing. [1] ## Takeaway The same identity checks that pinned a $1,000 scam on the wrong woman are the ones Block agreed to pay $12 million over, while BMO's upgrade argues the fraud-loss line, modeled near $569 million for the third quarter, is manageable. ## Sources 1. [Claim Depot, Cash App class action alleges Block failed to stop pig butchering scams, 22 October 2026](https://www.claimdepot.com/cases/cash-app-class-action-alleges-block-failed-to-stop-pig-butchering-scams) 2. [Malwarebytes, Woman faces years in prison over a Cash App account she says she never opened, October 2026](https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/10/woman-faces-years-in-prison-over-a-cash-app-account-she-says-she-never-opened) 3. [Tech Times UK, Woman faces fraud charges over Cash App account she says she never opened, October 2026](https://www.techtimes.co.uk/pennsylvania-woman-cash-app-fraud-identity-theft-1809313) 4. [Investing.com via Yahoo Finance, BMO lifts Block to Outperform, sees multiple rerating catalysts ahead, 22 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/bmo-lifts-block-outperform-sees-121713951.html) --- A stolen SSN pinned a $1,000 scam on the wrong woman; Block settled Cash App fraud claims for $12 million — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/a-stolen-ssn-pinned-a-1-000-scam-on-the-wrong-woman-block-settled-cash-app-fraud-claims-for-12-million