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  Geebo 8:00 am on May 24, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bank fraud, bank scam ( 70 ), Chase ( 14 ), Scams ( 1,368 ), Zelle ( 66 )   

  You don’t have to be scammed to lose money through Zelle 

  

  By Greg Collier

  We’ve been discussing the problems with Zelle for the better part of over six months now. When we started, we were bringing attention to a very specific scam that took place through the money transfer app. This was when the scammers pose as a victim’s bank and gets the victim to transfer money to the scammers through Zelle under the guise of protecting their bank account from hackers.

  Then, as the months passed, we started seeing more reports of Zelle being used in more and more scams. Where the scammers used to ask for money in gift cards, they were now telling their victims to use Zelle.

  To compound matters, the victims’ banks have largely been refusing to refund the victims’ money when lost in a Zelle scam. Then add to the fact that Zelle offers little to no protection to its users in general.

  More recently, we’ve come across a report from Florida where a man claims to have lost $9000 from his bank account through Zelle, and the man did not fall for a scam. The man claims that he was looking at his bank account and saw his money being transferred out of his account to someone he doesn’t even know.

  He called his bank, which was Chase Bank, and asked that they stop the Zelle transfers. He also requested to move money into a new account that was not attached to Zelle. According to reports, that new account was also hit for the sum of $4000 through Zelle. Chase Bank allegedly denied any refunds, stating that the transactions appeared to come from the man’s device.

  It’s unclear how the thieves were able to gain access to the man’s accounts. It almost sounds like a SIM Swapping attack, since the transactions looked like they were made by the victim. Or it could have been an old-fashioned phishing attack.

  However, the most disturbing part of this story is that if thieves can access a bank account through Zelle without the user noticing, a large portion of banking customers could be vulnerable. Zelle is attached to many of the most popular banking apps without many users even knowing.

  To make matters worse, there isn’t anything account holders can do proactively to prevent these losses through Zelle. If you lose money through Zelle either in a scam, or like the instance mentioned above, the only thing you can really do is file a police report and hope the bank deems you worthy enough to be given a refund.

   

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  Geebo 8:00 am on April 18, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: authorization code ( 7 ), bank fraud, bank scam ( 70 ), Scams ( 1,368 ), verification code ( 6 ), Zelle ( 66 )   

  Is the Zelle scam getting more sophisticated? 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Previously, we have said that scams are almost like living organisms. They’re constantly evolving and changing as people start catching on to the original scam. However, a scam can bed tweaked just enough to find a whole new generation of victims. One of those scams that has evolved quickly in a short time is the Zelle scam.

  For those who may not know, Zelle is a payment app that works along the same lines as Venmo. The main difference between Zelle and Venmo is Zelle is co-owned by some of the country’s largest banks. Many of these banks’ apps have Zelle already built-in. For about the past six months, the Zelle scam has been one of the most reported scams in America.

  The Zelle scam starts when you get a text message that appears to come from your bank. The text message asks if you’ve recently made a large purchase or payment. You’re then asked to reply either yes or no to the text message. When you reply to the text message, your reply will be followed up with a phone call from scammers posing as your bank’s fraud department. The scammers will walk you through a process on the Zelle app that the scammers say will protect your account from any fraudulent activity. What’s really going on is the scammers are instructing you on how to put your money in the scammer’s account.

  In the Salt Lake City-area of Utah, a new variation of this scam has been reported. In it, the scammers skip the text message and go straight to the phone call. A bank customer will be told they’re speaking with their bank’s fraud department and fraudulent activity has been spotted on the customer’s account. The scammers will even tell the customer their last few bank transactions. A made up transaction is added to that list to make it seem like there’s been a fraudulent charge to the customer’s account.

  At this point, the scammers will ask the customer if they want to sign up for a fraud notification service. If the customer says yes, they’ll be texted a security code. The scammers will then ask for that code to supposedly verify that they have the right phone number. The code is actually an authorization code to change the customer’s password. Once the scammers have the code, they lock the customer out of their own account and start transferring the funds to another account through Zelle. Since the Zelle app doesn’t have the same protections as something like a credit card, it has become increasingly difficult for scam victims to recover their lost money.

  If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from your bank, politely end the call and call your bank’s customer service department back at the correct customer service number. The number can usually be found on the back of your debit card or on the bank’s website. Don’t just do a Google search for the bank’s number, as that could lead you to an entirely different fake customer service department.

  Lastly, if you receive a text message or email with any kind of security code on it, do not give it to anyone. These codes are mostly used for password recovery or resetting a password. If you give the code to someone you don’t know, they could have access to your most sensitive accounts.

  Alvaro Urbaez (@urbaez22) is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Alvaro Urbaez (@urbaez22) 8:59 am on April 20, 2022 Permalink

    I fell in another variation. I call it as the third party payment, and is very often in criptocurrencies portals like Binance or Coinbase.. Some one offers for your coins, but the payment via Zelle is sent by a third person, you verify the addition of the money to your account, so you release the coins; a few hours later, the owner of the other account (the third person) files a claim on their bank telling them they didn’t perform that payment; the bank will retain the funds on your account, and eventually will debit them in order to return them to that third person. So, you lose your money, and the scammer goes away with it, and the bank won’t even allow you to file a claim on that.. It happened to me with Bank of America. They have a serius security breach on that matter, and the responsible for the exploit was me, and like me there are lots of people affected..

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  Geebo 8:00 am on April 5, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: bank fraud, bank scam ( 70 ), customer service ( 50 ), Scams ( 1,368 ), Zelle ( 66 )   

  Is this the only way for Zelle scam victims to get their money back? 

  

  By Greg Collier

  The Zelle scam has been garnering headlines since at least last October and shows no signs of relenting. If this is the first you’re hearing about the Zelle scam, this is the scam where bad actors get you to transfer money through the Zelle app to the scammers under the guise of protecting your bank account.

  To further clarify, the way the scam works is the scammer will send you a text message that appears to come from your bank. The text message asks if you recently made a large purchase or transfer. You’re asked to reply YES or NO to the text message. If you reply to the text message, you’ll receive a call from the scammer posing as your bank’s fraud department. The scammer will tell you that to protect your money, it needs to be moved through Zelle. What the scammer is really doing is walking you through the directions on how to move your money from your account to the scammer’s account. The scam has become so prevalent that some scammers are even taunting their victims after taking their money.

  The banks who co-own Zelle have been inconsistent with whom they deem worthy enough to receive a refund. In the majority of instances, the banks tell scam victims since the victims authorized the transactions, the victims are out of luck. The Zelle platform offers little in the way of consumer protection.

  Those who do receive refunds from their banks seem to be those who go to their local media with their stories. It appears the banks are responding to bad press rather than customer concern. While the scammers are ultimately to blame for victims losing their money, there comes a time when a platform has to step up to protect their customers. So far, all that Zelle seems to be doing to protect its users is to wag their finger at the victims who have lost money through their app. How much bad press will it take before Zelle’s owners start implementing precautions to prevent these scams?

  If your bank uses Zelle, there are a few ways to protect yourself from this scam. The first is to not respond to text messages that appear to come from your bank. If there is an issue with your account, you’re always better off calling the customer service number on the back of your debit card. You can also visit your bank’s local branch during business hours. The best way to protect yourself is to keep in mind that payment apps like Zelle are only supposed to be used with people you know. If someone says you need to use one of these apps to protect your money, they’re more than likely a scammer.