Consumer complaint received 2022-08-05
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I listed a pair of wedding heels on XXXX XXXX and was contacted by a XXXX user called XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX' on Monday XX/XX/XXXX. She was interested in purchasing my pair of shoes for {$170.00}. She said she was located in XXXX XXXX and shipping would be ideal. On XX/XX/XXXX morning, she requested for my XXXX email and name to send payment to. She was very aggressive and demanded me to check my email for the notification mail from XXXX. At the time, I was focused on selling my pair of shoes that I did not pay attention to the sender of the email was not from XXXX and it was from this email address " XXXX '' I received a total of XXXX scam emails from this email address on XX/XX/XXXX. The first email I received was at XXXX that stated I have received a payment of {$170.00} USD from XXXX XXXX " Important : To receive this payment, please reply to this email immediately stating that you accept the money. '' Then I received a second email at XXXX stating " We are sorry for the late response. We encountered a little problem while crediting your account, you have a pending payment of {$170.00} USD but we have a problem crediting your account with that amount because your account is not a premium account and can not receive funds that add up to {$170.00}. '' The email instructed me to send in an additional payment of {$620.00} so that my account limit can be expanded, as soon as this is done, we will credit the total amount of {$800.00} into your account immediately without any further delay. Meanwhile, XXXX was communicating and instructing me to send her the refund through Zelle or XXXX. She gave me her XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I asked her is the name under XXXX XXXX she responded yes. Payment though XXXX was declined and she insisted me to send her payment through Zelle to XXXX under the name of XXXX XXXX. Then after I sent the payment, I received a third email from the fake " XXXX '' at XXXX, this time stating that my account has been upgraded to premium account and I have received an additional payment of {$620.00} USD from ( XXXX XXXX ) and your account will be fully credited with the total sum of {$800.00} USD. When I checked my account, I never received the funds. At XXXX, I received a fourth email stating " On the verge of crediting the pending payment of $ XXXX as we notified you earlier which was paid by the customer XXXX XXXX, we looked through our database and found a total pending payment of $ XXXX. There has been another new payment of {$620.00} USD from the same customer XXXX XXXX resulting in an excess payment from the same customer, We are unable to separate the payments as they have been added to our database and all the funds are pending in your account, due to this reason, we can't proceed with crediting your account with the initial pending payment of {$800.00} USD. We have also tabled the transaction before the Board of Directors and they have advised that the payment ( XXXX ) should remain " ON-HOLD/Pending here while you make the refund of the new payment of {$620.00} USD using Zelle after which we shall then credit your account with total payments of {$1500.00} USD because you are getting a bonus of {$100.00} USD. Note the customer 's account has now been suspended. '' Then XXXX instructed me to send the {$620.00} refund to her other Zelle account due to the first account having receiving limits. She said " XXXX gave you a bonus of {$100.00} due to this. '' She gave me her other Zelle account " XXXX under the name " XXXX. '' After payment was sent, I received a fifth email at XXXX stating " Your pending payment of {$1500.00} USD has been successfully approved and the money will be available in your account between XXXX hours and we will send you an email immediately the money is available in your account. '' At XXXX, I received a final sixth email stating " IMPORTANT : READ CAREFULLY THE BELOW MESSAGES AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN SO WE CAN FINALLY PROCESS YOUR PAYMENT WITHOUT ANY FURTHER DELAY. 

We are sending you this message to notify you that we have expanded your account limit. You have to pay the XXXX  charges of {$870.00} USD. 

XXXX XXXX 's account is still suspended till your money gets finally credited to your account. 

The charge you need to pay before the money can get credited into your account is {$870.00} USD, your account will be credited immediately with the sum of {$2500.00} USD within XXXX minutes of confirming the transaction refund because you are getting a bonus of {$100.00} USD. 

Note : The money has been deducted from XXXX XXXX XXXX  account so we urge you to go ahead and send an additional {$870.00} USD refund through Zelle and get back to us with the refund proof as XXXX  charges so that we can unfreeze XXXX XXXX XXXX account. 

Also note : Ask the customer for another Zelle information. 

Once we receive the proof of refund from you as a means of the XXXX charges, we will credit your account with the sum of {$2500.00} USD without any further delay. '' At that same moment, XXXX messeged me on XXXX " Did you receive the recent notification about XXXX XXXX XXXX charges of {$870.00}? '' Then I asked her " Yikes, what is this XXXX XXXX? Is this a spam? '' She explained that it is only charged once and you don't have to pay for it again. I told her I'm calling XXXX to inquire. She said I'm not stealing from you I promise. She told me calling XXXX is not a solution. Then I found out this was a fraud. I reported to XXXX XXXX XXXX Zelle to start an investigation today. I also reported XXXX XXXX on XXXX and to the internet crime complaint center. 

I am hoping Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can do something to help me recover the money I lost through internet scam. I am getting married in XXXX and really need this fund for my wedding. Thank you so much for reading this and I look forward to a response and resolution. Thank you!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation