The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced today that it fine Blockthe creator of the Cash App and parent company of Square, $120 million in “refunds and redress” and $55 million in fines for how the company handles fraud on its payment platform.

According to the CFPB, Cash App’s Terms of Service at one point claims that any bank associated with an account for transferring funds is responsible for resolving disputes about fraudulent charges, something that is often not true under Electronic Fund Transfer Act. Block used that claim to avoid taking responsibility, and when it did investigate a complaint, it relied on “deliberately poor investigative methods to shut down reports of unauthorized transactions in favor of the company,” the CFPB statement explained.

Accessing any kind of customer service for the Cash App is also a challenge, according to the CFPB. The block includes the customer service number on Cash App cards and the app’s Terms of Service, but calling it ultimately leads users to “a pre-recorded message directing consumers to contact of customer support through the app.” And contacting the company via app or physical mail often results in delayed or confusing responses.

In addition to Block’s $175 million total debt, the CFPB also ordered the company to establish a live 24/7 customer support line. Block agreed to comply with the order. “While we strongly disagree with the CFPB’s mischaracterizations,” the company said shared on his blog“We made the decision to settle this matter in the interest of putting it behind us and focusing on what’s best for our customers and our business.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took a more aggressive approach to regulating payment applications and digital wallets last year under the Biden Administration. The CFPB expanded its purpose from just banks to wallets and payment apps by November 2024, and beyond the paid app Zelle not even a month ago.

These regulatory attempts are also facing pushback. NetChoice, a trade association for online companies, and TechNet, “a bipartisan network of technology CEOs,” they both sued the CFPB in his efforts to clean up digital payments, with the familiar claims of government overreach and that the CFPB failed to explain the risks it addressed when it decided to regulate payment apps in the first place.