Consumer complaint received 2022-07-10
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC
State: PA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX of XXXX I was attempting to sell an item on XXXX XXXX place for {$800.00}. A buyer came forward under the name of XXXX XXXX. Their XXXX account only had XXXX followers, so it seemed to be a fake account. However, I went ahead to make the sale of the item. XXXX did not seem to be interested in anything relating to the actual item, they said they wanted payment out of the way first. So, they told me to use the Zelle app to make the transaction. They informed me that some banking apps, such as the XXXX XXXX  whom I am a customer to, allows to send money partnered to Zelle. So, I agreed and put all my suspicions aside when I saw that my bank offered the service. I figured that if anything went wrong, my bank would stop the transaction. The buyer, XXXX, asked me for my full name and email address ( XXXX ), which didnt concern me. Then, XXXX claimed that they had sent the {$800.00} to my account. I receive an email on the account I provided them, from Zelle ( XXXX ). At the time, I did not realize that this was an imposter of Zelle. The email read that I had an incoming payment of {$800.00} from a sender XXXX XXXX, but it has been halted because my account was not of the premium status. I have never used Zelle before, or the method through my banking app, so I believed that this was a true scenario. The buyer asked me if I had received that email, to which I replied that I had. The buyer then sends a screenshot of the same email and sends it to me via messenger, the same way they contacted me to purchase my item for sale. Their screenshot was the same as mine, making me believe that the email was genuine and from Zelle. The email also mentioned that the only way for the {$800.00} to be released to my account was if both parties sent an addition {$500.00} to each other, to which Zelle would hold all funds, and then release the correct amounts to each other ; {$1300.00} to me ( the buyers original {$800.00} and my {$500.00} refund ), and {$500.00} back to XXXX XXXX ( their {$500.00} refund ). I, unfortunately not seeing through the scam, sent the {$500.00} to XXXX XXXX. Then, the buyer asked for a screenshot to confirm that I sent the money, to which I sent. At this point, I was very concerned with everything happening, but comforted myself with the thought that my bank, The XXXXXXXX XXXX in PA, provides me with this feature to send money through Zelle. I also thought that if something went wrong, the bank would stop my funds from reaching the scammer. The buyer then informs me that their account is locked due to their accountant ( which was not mentioned earlier to me ) sent too much money. I received an email from the same fake Zelle account confirming this. The email read that I would need to send an additional {$500.00} to balance out the money transfer. At this point, I realized that I had been scammed. 

Currently, I have filed a claim with XXXX and my bank. My bank has made contact with Zelle, where they blacklisted the individual " XXXX XXXX ''. Zelle has no offered compensation for this scam that was supported by their company.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation