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- Biden had a Venmo account connected to a handful of family members, Buzzfeed News reported.
- The private account was reportedly removed following the Buzzfeed story.
- The search began after The New York Times mentioned he’d used the app.
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President Joe Biden’s Venmo account was discovered after just a few minutes of searching, Buzzfeed News reported on Friday.
The transactions on the account were set to private, but it was reportedly linked to Biden’s family members.
Venmo accounts by default display connections, or “friends.” Accounts for Biden’s children and grandchildren were among those connected to the president’s account, according to Buzzfeed. The account had a handful of connections.
The search for Biden’s account began after The New York Times on Friday published an inside look at Biden’s time in the White House. The story said: “One advisor said he had sent the grandchildren money using Venmo.”
With that info in hand, it took “less than 10 minutes” to find Biden’s account, Buzzfeed said. Accounts linked to Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden were removed following the report, according to the outlet.
In a statement to Buzzfeed, a Venmo spokesperson said: “The safety and privacy of all Venmo users and their information is always a top priority, and we take this responsibility very seriously. Customers always have the ability to make their transactions private and determine their own privacy settings in the app. We’re consistently evolving and strengthening the privacy measures for all Venmo users to continue to provide a safe, secure place to send and spend money.”
Venmo has been in the political spotlight recently after Joel Greenberg, an ally of Rep. Matt Gaetz, reportedly made more than 150 payments via Venmo to dozens of women, as well as a 17-year-old girl. In one instance, Gaetz reportedly sent $900 to Greenberg.
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