Report alleges Block’s Cash App facilitates fraud, disregards AML laws

An investment research firm accused financial technology payment company Block of facilitating money laundering, fraud, and scams on its platform.

Hindenburg Research, a noted short seller, released a report Thursday on Block (formerly Square) backed by two years of research and interviews with former Block employees and partners. The investigative report alleged the company’s claimed disruptive innovation of the payments industry has been fueled by its “willingness to facilitate fraud against consumers and the government, avoid regulation, dress up predatory loans and fees as revolutionary technology, and mislead investors with inflated metrics.”

Block’s “‘Wild West’ approach to compliance” on its Cash App platform has “made it easy for bad actors to mass create accounts for identity fraud and other scams, then extract stolen funds quickly,” according to the report.