Venmo, an app owned by PayPal and used for things like splitting checks or paying vendors, seems to have found another purpose among millennials.
According to Fortune, a recent poll revealed that almost a third of all respondents said that they have used the app to buy drugs. When asked the question, "Have you ever used Venmo to pay for drugs? (Ex. Marijuana, Adderal, Cocaine etc..)," more than 30 percent said “yes.”
The poll surveyed 1,200 current millennial Venmo users and was commissioned by student loan marketplace LendEdu.
The poll also questioned users about whether they have used the Venmo app for illegal gambling, asking them, "Have you ever used Venmo for betting or gambling? (Sports betting, fantasy football, poker etc.)." Only 21 percent of respondents answered “yes.”
When Fortune reached out to Venmo about the poll, the company responded in an email: "As clearly outlined in the Venmo User Agreement, people are prohibited from using Venmo for gambling or payments that involve drugs. If there is ever a situation where evidence of gambling or other illegal activity is brought to our attention, Venmo works quickly to take appropriate action."
While a good number of users ages 18 to 34 seem to have found more...um, creative...uses for Venmo, Fortune reports that "Beer, pizza, and fantasy football, were the most used terms by users in a separate study of over 500,000 Venmo transactions."
As for millennial users who use Venmo to buy drugs or engage in illegal gambling, they should be aware that all those transactions are kept on file.