Not-a-real-phone-number accounts have a much higher than average probability of being a bot or a scammer. (That's because scammers can automate signing up for v

Not-a-real-phone-number accounts have a much higher than average probability of being a bot or a scammer. (That's because scammers can automate signing up for voip numbers; getting a thousand real Verizon numbers is much harder.) And Venmo had a strong financial incentive to ban signups that look like bots and scammers. If Venmo were a brick and mortar business, they could just ask you to come by a local office so they can verify your ID in person. But they don't have a local office; so the reasonable and profitable solution is to preemptively ban you.