It looks like posting phrases like "an unfortunate series of events," "bail" and eggplant emoticons on your (mostly always public) Venmo transaction messages are probably something you're not going to want to do anymore. According to a recent exclusive by the Verge, using Internet slang like "idek" (an acronym for "I don't even know") can get you flagged for terrorist activity.
The Verge decided to investigate the matter after the news site received word on the matter from "a number of tipsters" who informed the editorial staff that "transactions [are] being flagged by Venmo after leaving 'idek' as a description, a phenomenon verified by the Verge in independent testing." As per these reports, users who used the phrase in a message had their accounts put on hold for 96 hours for further inspection and review. The buzzword that set this off? "Idek."
"Federal regulations require that we screen payments for restricted goods and entities," a Venmo spokesperson told the Verge after they asked for comments on the flagging. "The payment note mentions a restricted good or entity, so we have to review the payment."
The Verge also stated that these self-same federal regulations and standards were the reason why activity the company deems suspect of "[violating] U.S. sanctions" could directly hook your name up with the Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals list.
"We need to ensure that we are also moving money to and from people in a way that complies with regulations that are designed to protect our national safety, economy, and security," it added.
However, it still begs the question: why "idek?" Why that and not, say, a rocket emoji? Or a skull and crossbones emoji? Or an actual gun emoji?
Unfortunately, Venmo declined to answer, but here's what the Verge dug up:
"IDEK is also an acronym for Islami Dawat-e-Kafela, which is another name for Harakat Ul-Jihad-i-Islami, a radical Islamic organization in Bangladesh that was designated as a global terrorist group in 2008. To the bots that scan through Venmo's transaction records, that payment looks like it could be funding Bangladeshi terrorism, so it gets held up while the system takes a closer look."
As the website also noted, "idek" isn't the only phrase that raises the alarm on the app. Purportedly, the name Ahmed also caused a similar response in 2014, but the company chalked it up to a "glitch"; on top of that, one customer's decision to use "iced coffee obama nsa inside job syria" did the same thing.
Moral of the story? If you want to err on the side of caution, mind your Ps and Qs on Venmo.
Source: The Verge
Photo: downloadsource.fr | Flickr
