A law student realized she had made a big mistake while paying rent, after discovering she had been sending money to the wrong Venmo account.
Kody Lynn, 24, revealed in a viral TikTok video that her security deposit and rent had been going to the wrong account over the past year.
Lynn claimed the Venmo recipient was a ‘random financial investor in Ohio‘ whose sister spent all the money.
The University of Kentucky student is now preparing to move out of her apartment after her landlord informed her they would file a lawsuit against her for $18,508.
‘I wish it was April 1st, unfortunately for me it is now,’ Lynn wrote in the description of the video that’s been viewed by over three million TikTok users.
Kody Lynn (@lizzywithaglizzy), 24, revealed in a viral TikTok video that her security deposit and rent had been going to the wrong Venmo account over the past year
Lynn posted three update TikToks a day after sharing her July 17 video to explain her 13-month living situation in further detail.
The graduate student seemed to live comfortably in her unit and told the owner she was interested in renewing her lease.
In her first update, Lynn admitted she spelled the Venmo name wrong by one letter.
‘To my defense, the Venmo I was supposed to be sending it to had no profile picture, and all their transaction history was private. The Venmo I sent it to had no profile picture, and their transaction history was private,’ she said.
Lynn had communicated with the property manager about rent, and that it was them who told her about the payments going to the wrong Venmo user.
The property manager texted her a screenshot of their Venmo to compare it to the one she sent money to and pointed out the spelling error that Lynn couldn’t see.
Lynn, a graduate student, seemed to live comfortably in her unit and told the owner she was interested in renewing her lease
The TikToker accessed her Venmo account and explained the error to the recipient while requesting that they pay back the $18,508 rent and security deposit.
She eventually received $1,350 from the mysterious Venmo user, who requested that Lynn give him her phone number.
The student allegedly recorded the phone conversation between the two of them, and researched their social media pages to see who they were.
‘Their story is – they had relatives who passed away, and they thought that these payments had something to do with their relative who passed away,’ Lynn said.
She added that he claimed ‘multiple people had access’ to his Venmo, and his heroin-addicted sister was likely the person who took it out.
Lynn said she was ‘flabbergasted’ by the situation during her second update, and he did his best to propose a payment plan to help her get the money back.
The law student knew the payment plan wouldn’t work, but it would be better if there were a settlement agreement rather than going to court.
She allegedly called her landlord afterward and told him she could pay six months immediately, continue paying her usual rent, and forward the rest back to them.
Unfortunately, Lynn received an email from the landlord a day later, who told her the entire balance needed to be paid within 60 days.
This left her ‘livid’ and ‘horribly offended,’ and she claimed it was their ‘mismanagement of funds and disorganization’ that caused her rent-paying error.
Lynn accessed her Venmo account and explained the error to the recipient while requesting that they pay back the $18,508 rent and security deposit
In her third update, Lynn revealed that she immediately contacted a lawyer who specializes in landlord-tenant and real estate law.
Following her conversation with the attorney, the student told the owner and property manager that she would be moving out of the apartment so that she would not have an eviction on her record.
She claimed the owner and property manager responded they could ‘figure out the rest’ and have her pay the six-months of rent instead of her moving out.
They have since sued Lynn, and she is prepared to fight them in court.
‘I have an attorney now… I would love to not get sued, I would love to not have to go to court… I think all parties are at fault,’ Lynn said.
Lynn told the owner and property manager that she would be moving out of the apartment so that she would not have an eviction on her record
Other TikTok users were not happy about the situation, and several commenters insisted Lynn was in the right.
‘You’re handling this so well though. So proud of you. You’re giving major girl boss fancy lawyer vibes,’ wrote a TikToker.
Several others blamed the landlord for the error and said that it was not her fault.
‘That random dude you were Venmoing has no obligation to pay you back in my opinion,’ a commenter wrote.
‘It’s the landlord and management’s fault totally for never confirming you missed payments.’
