Consumer complaint received 2021-10-28
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC
State: OR
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
I was contacted via text from a number identifying as XXXX XXXX with a fraudulent activity text, and i have received them before so I didn't even consider that it could be fraudulent ; it asked if I authorized a Zelle transfer yes/no and i replied no. I immediately received a phone call from XXXX ( this according to my debit card is actually XXXX 's fraud department number ) so I answered it and the agent identified himself as a member of the XXXX fraud department and that he was there to help me recover my funds and file a fraud complaint. At no time did he sound like someone that was not part of the fraud team at XXXX, with whom I have spoken with before. 

He told me that he had placed a hold on the accounts so that they could no longer be used, and that I should not log in to my laptop during this process. He then had me log into my first XXXX account, my business account, and then to receive a text with a code that I could use to verify my identity, the same way I always have to with XXXX, via XXXX text. Its an 8-digit code, and came from the same text thread ( XXXX ) that every other 8-digit log in code has always come from with XXXX 's two-factor ( the previous text in that thread was from XX/XX/XXXX, and also was legit from XXXX so I had no reason to suspect that this wasnt real. ) From there he said he was helping me to reverse the charges that Zelle has scheduled by setting up an account with my own name, and then clicking on that named account to then transfer myself $ XXXX as a refund from Zelle, a third party app. He said that fraudulent activity had happened across all of my bank accounts, and that an investigation had been opened to find out how someone had gained access to all my accounts at once. He assured me that this was standard and that I needed to then go to the next account that had the fraudulent activity on it and transfer another $ XXXX to an account set up for myself with my own name via Zelle. I did this on XX/XX/XXXX according to his instructions to refund myself my stolen money, and when one of the accounts didnt have the full $ XXXX in it, it pulled another {$2000.00} from my savings account to cover the remainder of the $ XXXX. This was confusing to me but I was agitated and scared, and never had any reason not to trust XXXX bank employees, and I followed his instructions. 

I followed this same process in my business accounts as well, after receiving more text messages from XXXX with codes to verify identity. My business checking account on XX/XX/XXXX for $ XXXX and then again for {$2400.00}. He told me that in order to get the rest of the $ XXXX back that the second transaction couldnt cover ( it was only {$2400.00} ) I would have to talk to him again tomorrow to recover that. He set a time to call me at XXXX the next day, and we hung up. 

At no point was I anything more than agitated and scared, as he assured me that XXXX is FDIC insured but that Zelle was a 3rd party app that was not transparent in its " back end '' and thus this was the only way to receive a refund from Zelle. And that there was a $ XXXX limit per account each day on any transactions in any direction, and thus we had to speak the next day to complete the process. 

When he called me on XX/XX/XXXX, we went through the same process again, for two accounts one for $ XXXX  and one for {$2400.00}. He said that once again there was more fraudulent activity being shown, that someone had scheduled another Zelle payment for $ XXXX and that they needed to call me back again the next day, since once again we had crossed the $ XXXX limit for the day. 

For some reason I agreed to this, still not suspicious, just confused about the opaqueness of Zelle and why it was such a confusing and convoluted process to get the payments reversed. He said that Zelle 's policy was that they did not reverse payments ever, and thus this is the only way to get your money refunded. This made no sense, but still fearful of losing all my money, I continued. 

He called me back at the appointed time on XX/XX/XXXX and we " reversed '' the $ XXXX charges again to my own named account on both my savings account and my business checking account. He said that two more fraudulent charges were scheduled to come out of my accounts again today and we had reached the limit ( I saw this limit come up on my phone ) and thus had to try again tomorrow. He scheduled to call me back again Thursday morning. Only then did I realize that something about this was very wrong, and felt sick to my stomach. I have spent days on the phone with XXXX, with Zelle, and no one will help me with this. Both XXXX and Zelle are refusing to even investigate this. 

I have a police report ( Case # XXXX with Officer XXXX badge # XXXX filed on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. I filed a Internet C3 complaint with the FBI on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX. I have called and written to every Oregon news outlet, filed complaints with the XXXX and the OR DOJ, as no one from XXXX or Zelle will help me recover these funds.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation