How to keep your Venmo account private

As if things weren’t embarrassing enough for national security adviser Michael Waltz, what with inviting a journalist into a private policy group chat and all, Wired discovered that his Venmo account was wide open, revealing the names of “hundreds of Waltz’s personal and professional associates.” 

Venmo is a popular and convenient way to transfer money to friends and vendors, but it’s a good idea to keep it as closed down as possible, as it is with any online banking institution. To keep your Venmo account as secure as you can, here are some ways to avoid exposing your contacts, and your account, to public scrutiny — or worse.

Check and change your privacy settings

• Tap on the Me icon at the bottom right of the page.
• Select the Settings gear at the top right and then select Privacy.
• You’ll see three settings: Public (visible to everyone on the internet!), Friends (visible to the contacts of the sender and the recipient), and Private (visible to the sender and recipient only). Make sure that Private is checked.

Keep in mind that if you’ve established any Venmo Groups (as the name suggests, groups of contacts), any transactions using that feature will be vi …

Read the full story at The Verge.