Consumer complaint received 2021-11-09
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC
State: FL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I received a text message on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX, XXXX & XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX department XXXX XXXX stating there were 2 transactions that were declined per my account. I recognized this message as I have gotten it prior from XXXX XXXX. It asked ( like normal ) to respond YES or NO to those transactions being authorized. I immediately responded with NO. The next text then read that a Zelle payment of {$2500.00} had also been authorized and asked if this was recognized. I then immediately responded with NO. The final text I received at XXXX read Thank you. We received your response. No further action is required at this time. This transaction will be reversed with the help of your phone representative. '' I then received a phone call from the same number afterwards to confirm if these transactions were authorized. They were for {$100.00} at XXXX, {$560.00} at XXXX and {$2500.00} via Zelle. I verbally told the representative that no, they were not authorized nor recognized. He then proceeded to inform me that the transactions were coming out of Ohio to which I vehemently stated could not have been me since I reside in Florida. He explained that they were not going to be going through and how debit cards were being continuously compromised through gas station pumps. He then went into detail how XXXX XXXX customers wouldnt necessarily be privy to know this because of the ever-changing card chip functions that the gas pumps now are using. He stated though that to stop the reoccurring Zelle payment now under a different name per my cell number Id have to erase the foreign name in my banking app ( was something strange like XXXX ) and instead place my name in the form. He then stated to authorize the funds in my account ( {$810.00} ) to be transferred and sent to MYSELF and to my personal cell number. I complied and he informed me that the transfer would occur in under 10 minutes. When that did not happen, I immediately called XXXX XXXX customer service at XXXX at XXXX and spoke to the representative who saw the fraudulent debits ( to which my now debit card had been turned off and a new one on its way to me ) and the Zelle transaction. The representative then also said that she saw the expedited notion on the Zelle transaction and that it would be available back in my account within 1 business day. Upon checking my account early Wednesday morning on XX/XX/XXXX I saw that the funds were not available. I called XXXX XXXX customer service again at XXXX. This representative was flabbergasted that the clerk I spoke with the afternoon before would have verified seeing these unauthorized debits and also had confirmed the Zelle transfer to be going back into my account as she herself saw NOTHING of the sort. She then opened a fraudulent claim # XXXX and explained that the matter would be investigated and resolved within 10 business days. I asked if my {$810.00} would be put back into my account as a provisional credit since it was all the money I had and she explained that it would not and that I would have to wait 10 business days for the claim to be addressed. I then called the claims department after I hung up with her at XXXX to explain that I did not have 10 days to wait for the provisional credit. They informed me that this was unfortunately all they could do at the moment. I then called back to try my luck again and was redirected to the online banking department to which a claims representative informed me that I would not be reimbursed the money and that I had been outright scammed. I did not accept this resolution and called back customer service at XXXX to complain that this was troublesome for a number of reasons : # 1- I recognized getting texts about weird debit card transactions trying to go through my account before and asking for a YES or NO verification on those being authorized. This hence established my trust in the representative that called me after receipt of the texts. # 2- The request to override the {$2.00} ZELLE payment was instructed to be made from MYSELF TO MYSELF and to my personal cell number. This wasn't to anybody I did not recognize. I did not question this transaction as I trusted Zelle and XXXX XXXX to see this transaction coming FROM ME back to ME. # 3- The XXXX XXXX representative I spoke with within 30 minutes of this happening recognized the Zelle payment to NOT be suspicious and confirmed that it would be paid back to MY account and to MY cell number within 1 business day. This transaction was still pending and if this representative had informed me that they did not see any unauthorized debits trying to go through, we could have caught this fraud and scam from going through before it was posted the next morning. I would have NEVER let the remainder of the day go by if I did not get the reassurance from that XXXX XXXX representative that all looked ok on my account transactions. Now I am left with conflicting information about whether this situation is fraudulent, or a scam and my bank is not doing anything besides submitting a claim to be investigated with Zelle. All they have been able to tell me is that it will be about 10 business days before a resolution is reached. I am a mother of XXXX XXXX XXXX with a depleted bank account that is also in the negative because of automatic debits going through and no one to turn to. This is an uncanny scenario given I have been a loyal XXXX XXXX customer for over 7 years.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation