![]() ("Scripps").įollow John on Instagram John on Twitter more consumer news and money-saving advice, go to maintain the integrity of your data, it's a good idea to have rules in place to reduce duplicate records in the system. Don't call the number in the text, email, or voice mail, as it will connect you with the scammers.Ĭhances are that when you call your bank, they will say there is nothing wrong, and that way you don't fall for the Zelle scam, and you don't waste your money.ĭon't Waste Your Money" is a registered trademark of Scripps Media, Inc.If the person claiming a problem with your account needs your account info, look up the bank's phone number yourself and call them.Never discuss account numbers, PINs, or other personal information with anyone who contacts you.Only use money transfer apps with people you know.So how can you keep this from happening to you? Zelle has not commented on their request. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bob Menendez of New Jersey, recently asked the seven banks that own Zelle to do more to prevent this fraud and help the thousands of people who have fallen for it the past two or three year. Two US Senators on the Senate Banking Commission, Sens. "If you do get scammed out of money the chances of you getting that back is very unlikely." "These peer-to-peer payment services are not going to shoulder any losses for a consumer," she said. The big risk with Zelle, Wetzel says, is that if you are scammed, there is no protection. If it is a text or email, their message has grammatical errors.They insist there's no other way to fix the problem than following their instructions.The person contacting you about a problem with your bank account is pushy or aggressive.She says to look out for these red flags: Wetzel says scammers know peer-to-peer payment services like Zelle (and the similar Venmo) are convenient.īut they also know that unlike credit cards, where you can stop a fraudulent payment, there's little fraud protection. It's just unfortunate that scammers are using these services to take advantage of consumers," she said. ![]() Sarah Wetzel of the Better Business Bureau says that in almost all cases, customers are convinced through a phone call to give their personal account information to a scammer. So if it cannot be hacked, why are hundreds of bank customers losing money to Zelle scams? Zelle is run by major banks, and is actually very safe from hacking. Several thouand dollars were then transferred right out. He told us that as soon as he gave his account information, "they changed my user name, my password, my card PIN, and set up a Zelle account." So she gave her account number to try to stop the fraudulent transfer, and the thief immediately transferred $1,000 out of her checking account, before she realized what was happening.ĭamon Lander was another victim, who didn't even know what Zelle was when he received a phone call about a problem with his bank account. When she texted back, she remembered, "it said, did you try to Zelle someone $5,000, and I said no!" Last year, Catina Brown fell victim to a text message that appeared to be from her bank, claiming her account was locked due to fraud. Panicked, she gave her account information to the helpful man, who she thought was a customer service agent.īut it was a scammer, and within minutes he transferred $3,0000 out of her checking account through a Zelle transfer. ![]() "I was contacted by someone from a Wells Fargo phone number," she said, "who told me they were a Wells Fargo representative and that I had fraud in my bank account." She received an urgent text that appeared to come from her bank. Megan MacDonald's story is sadly all to familiar. That's because while Zelle is an easy way to send money, it is also an easy way for scammers to steal your money. Every week, it seems, comes a new report of someone scammed out of thousands of dollars.Īnd now Congress is starting to ask questions. The free payment app Zelle is making headlines these days, but for all the wrong reasons. ![]()
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