MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Attorney General Steve Marshall announced on Thursday that Alabama will receive nearly $600,000 in a multistate settlement with the owner of Cash App.
The $45 million settlement joined by 46 states came amid allegations that Block, Inc. – the company behind the Cash App peer-to-peer payment app – misled customers about the app’s safety and did not provide the fraud protection and resolution required by law.
The AG’s statement said that Block misrepresented itself to customers and implied that it operated with the same protections as a bank, which was not the case. It also claimed that Block knew fraud was increasing on its platform but increased marketing instead of fixing the problem.
The statement said that Block had inadequate customer service, which left users with no recourse when fraud occurred.
“For years, Block actively promoted direct deposits of paychecks…
PAYROLL & HR CONTROLS (PREVENTING “GHOST” SCHEMES)
Payroll fraud is often the hardest to detect because it “looks” like a normal business expense.
- Segregation of Duties (SoD): The person who adds new employees to the system must not be the same person who approves the monthly pay run.
- Mandatory Vacation Policy: Require all financial and HR staff to take 5–10 consecutive days of leave annually. Fraud often surfaces when the perpetrator isn’t there to “hide” the trail.
- Ghost Employee Audit: Perform a quarterly “Headcount Reconciliation” where managers must physically verify every name on their payroll list exists.
- Self-Pay Blocking: Ensure the payroll software has a hard-coded block preventing administrators from editing their own salary or bank details.