I just signed up for a new Venmo account. I did this on my desktop through the web interface rather than on my phone, so none of my phone data is available to it. I do not have a Facebook account, so did not link to one. I do not use Contacts features in email apps, etc., instead managing my contacts manually using files that my web browser does not know how to find. I have not yet linked to any friends, so it can't look up friends-of-friends.
So when Venmo presented me a list of suggested friends and told me "This list is based on your network," I was baffled where it drew this list from. About half the people on this list are people I interact with regularly or semi-regularly. Others are people I have little interaction with or have not spoken to in years, and two are names I don't recognize at all.
Where is Venmo getting this list from?