Greg's Corner

Zelle and Marketplace used in scam

By Greg Collier

Two brands that seem to be synonymous with scams are Zelle and Facebook Marketplace. Zelle has been one of the major platforms that scammers use to steal money, while Marketplace inherited all the scams that plague Craigslist. Then it really should come as no surprise, scammers are using both Zelle and Marketplace to try to put one over on online sellers.

The Better Business Bureau has issued a warning to online sellers regarding scammers posing as buyers while using Zelle. While the BBB focuses mainly on Facebook Marketplace and Zelle, this scam could apply to almost any online marketplace platform, and any personal payment app. However, in the instance the BBB is reporting on, Zelle and Marketplace were used.

The scam starts when the phony buyer insists on using Zelle. The seller then receives an email that claims to be from Zelle, but isn’t. These email addresses will have the Zelle name somewhere in the address but will be from some other service like Gmail, or an address the scammers registered themselves. The email says that you need to upgrade to a Zelle business account, which requires the buyer to send an additional $300.

The buyer will then send the seller phony screenshots that make it look like the buyer paid the seller’s price along with the $300 business account fee. The buyer will then demand the $300 they supposedly paid back from the seller. What really has happened is that the buyer hasn’t paid anything and is just looking for the seller to give them the $300. If the seller were to send the buyer $300 through Zelle, they would be out $300.

If you’re an online seller, you shouldn’t use apps like Zelle to accept payment. These apps are intended to be used between friends and family only. While it may be convenient to accept payments this way, it’s fraught with fraud and could cost you money in the end.