Consumer complaint received 2022-09-17
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC
State: TX
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2022, my brother provided my name and number to a guy that was selling a top for my XXXX XXXX on XXXX. He found the guy in a private XXXX group for XXXX owners. The guy eventually called me to arrange for the sale. Because I assumed my brother had already vetted the guy, I was more comfortable making the transaction, but was still a little hesitant. I should have trusted my gut feeling. I proposed completing the transaction via XXXX because they are more secure, but the alleged seller suggested XXXX or Zelle. Since my bank, XXXXXXXX XXXX, offered Zelle and promoted it as an option for sending money, I assumed my bank provided the same protections as they did for fraudulent transactions from my checking, savings, debit card and credit card accounts. Because I was still a little hesitant, I offered to send half the money upfront and the other half once I received verifiable proof the top was shipped. The alleged seller agreed. Shortly after sending the alleged seller {$420.00} and confirming it was sent, I went back to the sellers listings and inquired about some other parts. This communication was via XXXX messenger as I originally communicated with the alleged seller by phone since my brother gave him my number. It was during the messenger exchange that it was discovered the top did not belong to the alleged seller and was not shipped as promised. I immediately contacted my bank to stop or recover the Zelle transaction. While on the on the phone with my bank, the seller texted me a tracking number and requested the final payment of {$420.00}. He began to call and text a few times while on the phone with my bank, but I ignored the attempts. After filing my fraud complaint and completing the call with my bank, I texted the scammer back and requested an invoice. He deflected and said there was no need to send an invoice because it was already shipped, and again requested the remaining {$420.00} of the {$850.00} sale price be sent to complete the sale. I then informed him that I knew he was a scammer, which he obviously denied. During that exchange he agreed to send me back the {$420.00}, but I knew that was never going to happen. This all happened within a 20 to 30 minute timeframe. While filing my claim with my bank I asked several questions, which revealed that even though I was a victim of fraud/scam, I would be provided no protections because I authorized the transaction. That is puzzling because I was still a victim of fraud despite the bank 's interpretation and what constituted their protections for me as a customer. I assumed that if my bank promoted services with Zelle, that I would be afforded protections against fraud. It was clear during the process of me filing the fraud complaint that me getting my {$420.00} back was more than likely not going to be the outcome. I am a victim of fraud and I feel like the bank should refund my money since the Zelle service they provided offers no options for getting the money back from the scammers no matter how soon you report the fraud. The bank should not offer the service if there are no remedies for fraud and offer no protections. I should be refunded {$420.00} and the bank should stop offering Zelle services if they can not provide protections to its customers or sufficient remedies for recovery. I have to wait 10 days while they investigate my fraud claim that they have already disclosed the likelihood of recovering my money is very, very low. 

Zelle also offered no resolution and kept me on hold for 1 hours before I eventually hung up. 

Zelle made no attempt to collect any information from my fraud claim and said I should contact my bank, which I did before contacting them. They made no attempt to recover my money nor offer any customer service. 

The information the scammer used is below : Name used :. XXXX XXXX Email address used : XXXX Phone number used :. ( XXXX ) XXXX Also note : the email was verified by Zelle on the XXXX website. One would assume that verification by XXXX and Zelle meant the address was good and free from fraud, but that is the false security XXXX and Zelle provides its customers. They make it very easy for scammers to operate and victimize its clients. I am more wise because of this very expensive lesson and hope my experience helps others avoid becoming a victim of fraud as I did.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation