Using the term ‘IDEK’ online could land you in hot water

To you and I the term IDEK means “I don’t even know,” but it turns out that to Venmo, it means something a lot more sinister.

As reported by The Verge, a number of Venmo users reported that their payments were being suspended pending checks after using the acronym as the subject line.

Why? Because Venmo has a strict screening policy that aims to curb any illegal activity on its platform. The term IDEK, even though it sounds innocent, is actually flagged for being the initials of Islami Dawat-e-Kafela, a terrorism group from Bangladesh.

Payments that have the acronym as their subject line will be delayed by Venmo until they can clarify that is a genuine, legal transaction. Venmo has grown rapidly since it first launched and recently revealed that it had crossed the $1 billion monthly transfer mark in January.

That’s ten times the amount of transfers the company was making in 2014. Given the speed of its expansion, it’s no surprise that the company is being extra vigilant with its customers.

So next time you’re mindlessly transferring some cash, you’ll need to be a little more careful how you label it.

We have contacted Venmo about the issue and will update this post with more information as it’s received.

➤ Why saying ‘idek’ sets off Venmo’s terrorism alerts [The Verge]