This. Always check the app directly, never rely on email, SMS, of phone calls.

Though sadly, on some (most? all?) platforms, even that isn’t a guarantee, as some forms of payment can be rescinded. Or, the notice is communicated as “received” when it’s really more like “requested and processing” (much like banks crediting you for a deposited check, even though it takes weeks for a check to fully clear).

Some non techie users might not think to do that since they received what appears a legitimate email from Venmo.

Literally the first thing I did when selling stuff on ebay. Would verify that payment actually went through. I did have a couple people message saying they 'paid'. I'm sure it works just enough to be worth the trouble.

Indeed this is what I thought after reading the article. While there is a point to the article, it misses the basics entirely.

Internet makes a lot of things easier, losing money included.