Consumer complaint received 2022-06-22
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC
State: IL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX XXXX  I was a victim of a scam involving Zelle and XXXX.  I made multiple complaints to XXXX  and filed disputes 3 times, and all of them have been denied.  Below are the email correspondence I have had with them.  The entire story is explained in the emails below.  

Today, my intention is to request refunds of the money that was taken from my account by a fraudster pretending to be a XXXX  fraud specialist and used Zelle to remove XXXX from both my checking and savings accounts. Through research, I learned that this Zelle scam has been happening through multiple banks since XXXX. In the 3 years since this has been a known scam, there should have been extra precautions taken by Zelle and/or their affiliated banks!!!  Because Zelle is the company that was responsible for removing the money from my accounts, I am requesting that Zelle take responsibility and refunded the money that was taken from my accounts by a fraudster that knew this scam had been working for the last 3 years!!!!.

From: XXXX XXXX XXXX
To: XXXX
Date: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  Dear XXXX XXXX XXXX,
I am devastated both financially and emotionally after being a victim of a Zelle scam through XXXX. I have been a
customer with XXXX  since XXXX. I was one of the 1st people who signed up for a debit card and I actually won a prize
as part of the promotion. That is how long I have been a customer. I have always trusted XXXX. However, in the last 2 years, I have had my bank account compromised, multiple times. At the end of XXXX, I had to close all of my accounts
due to a breach into my checking account and XXXX XXXX credit cards. I had my checking and savings accounts for over
35 years, I was upset to have to close my long time accounts, I knew the account numbers by heart! Although I had to
open new accounts, I continued to trust XXXX. I felt that XXXX  was one of few banks that still have integrity and
are truly concerned for their customers. That is, until now.......
On XXXX XXXX XXXX  I was called by someone from the XXXXXXXX XXXX number from the fraud department. I was informed
that I had been a victim of fraud through Zelle. This person took me through steps that were suppose to cancel the Zelle
deposits and put the money back in my account. It was very upsetting and I didn't really understand what we were
doing, but I trusted, because the number was from the XXXX, XXXX number. And, because, I had multiple issues with
fraud on my accounts, in the last few years. I was made to believe we had to hurry or the money could not be retrieved.
After we went through all the steps, I was asking questions about how this had happened and we got cut off (I now know
the person hung up on me). When I called back to talk to the fraud department to ask additional questions, I was
informed I had been involved in the ZELLE scam that has been going on for the last few months at XXXX.. I was told
that this is a known scam and that I would get my money back, once it went through the process of investigation. They
told me it would likely be 10 working days before I would be reimbursed. I spoke to a few more people in the fraud department over the last 4 weeks. On XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I spoke to someone who said her manager said the XXXX
day was actually the XXXX. So, I hung up believing I would see the money back in my accounts the next day. I called
again on XXXX XXXX XXXX because there was no reimbursements in my accounts. For the 1st time since the
"incident", I was informed, by a fraud specialist named, XXXX, that I might not get a refund of the money that was
taken from my accounts. She told me that whom ever had filed my dispute had not included any notes on the
circumstances of what had actually happened on XXXX. The fraud specialist, XXXX, said she would follow up
and include the information of exactly what happened that day. On XXXX XXXX XXXX, I received XXXX letters, dated XXXX,
that my disputes were denied. I was SHOCKED and completely DEVISTATED by the results of this dispute. I am
barely making it financially due to my inability to work because of COVID restrictions. I had just been paid, on XXXX XXXX XXXX. I did not have money this month to pay my rent or other payments that are auto paid through my account.
XXXX XXXX XXXX  was STOLEN FROM MY BANK ACCOUNTS.. I would have never used Zelle had I not
been called by a person identifying himself as a fraud specialist from XXXX, with a caller ID that confirmed the call was
from XXXX.
After I received the dispute denial letters, I called and talked to another fraud specialist named, XXXX. I went through
the entire story with her. She said she would send XXXX  an email to inform her that I received denial letters dated
XXXX that could not have had the information that XXXX  took on XXXX XXXX XXXX  suggested to give it a week,
and call back to see if there had been any action by XXXX  to re-file the dispute with the information missing from
the 1st dispute report. I called again, on XXXX XXXX XXXX The fraud specialist I spoke to, said that a re-filling had not been
completed. I told my story, AGAIN, and she told me she would re-file it for me, with all the information. It is now, XXXX XXXX XXXX. She told me I probably would not receive a response from the 2nd, filing for 10 days or more. I decided to
send this letter in hopes that you or someone at a higher level of XXXX could look into my dispute with a complete
understanding of what occurred.
I think this situation has been handled extremely poorly and I am the only one paying for this XXXX  Zelle scam. My
biggest question is, why? Why would XXXX  do business with Zelle knowing there are no safety protocols? Zelle
was allowed to remove unlimited amounts of money from my accounts, without a safety protocol that would limit the
amount or have another way to verify that the person removing the money is the bank account owner? This is NOT a
good way to protect your customers from this kind of fraud/scam.
I know I am small potatoes, when it comes to being a customer of XXXX. But, I have been a loyal customer for many,
many years. Please don't shatter my belief, that XXXX  is a bank of ethical integrity and it takes this kind of scam
very seriously and the customer that was victimized, as a result.
Please help me resolve this unfortunate issue.
Thank you for your effort, in advance, to make this situation right.
XXXX XXXX XXXX
Acknowledgement of your email to XXXX XXXX
XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  Thank you for your email to chairman, president and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  I appreciate the
opportunity to acknowledge your communication on behalf of XXXX XXXX and our executive offices.
We regret to learn of the concerns described in your email and appreciate that youve taken this time to
reach out to us. Please understand, we have a formal process for researching concerns; as such, we
requested that your communications be reviewed by those that are in the best position to respond directly
to you. Once we have completed a thorough review, it is our expectation that you will receive a phone call,
or a written response will be provided to you as soon as possible.
We are aware of the importance of addressing your inquiry in a timely manner; therefore, we will strive to
expedite a response and we appreciate your patience during this time.
Sincerely,
XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

I received a letter on XXXX XXXX XXXX from the XXXX XXXX XXXX Response Unit, that again denied my claims.

I sent another email yesterday, XXXX XXXX XXXX  and received another response from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ZELLE XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX CDT XXXX XXXX XXXX Dear XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX,
This is my 2nd email regarding the Zelle scam I was a victim of. Please refer to
attachments with my original emails. XXXX XXXX XXXX, responded to my initial email to
XXXX XXXX  She informed me that "we requested that your communications be
reviewed by those that are in the best position to respond directly to you". "Once we
have completed a thorough review, it is our expectation that you will receive a
phone call, or a written response will be provided to you as soon as possible".
I received a letter from the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  on XXXX XXXX XXXX The letter was not signed by a person, just the department XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Although, I appreciate the review of the denied fraud
claim, I still feel that my situation is not being completely understood. I was referred
to the "Digital Services Agreement". This means nothing to me, because I did not
register for Zelle until I was guided to do so by the fraudster. Also, what was left
out, is the fact that in the last 2 or 2.5 years, I have had multiple breaches to my
checking account and had to order at least 2 or 3 new debit cards, the last being at
the beginning of XXXX  or it could have been XXXX XXXX XXXX. 2 years ago, I had
a very serious breach and I had to have my accounts closed and had to open new
accounts. That being said, at that time, when I spoke to the fraud specialists after
these breaches occurred, they were given permission to access my accounts as we
went over things and made changes. Even when this last breach occurred, the
"real" fraud specialist was given permission to navigate into my account to help me
(I gave them permission). So, when this imposter fraud person was supposably
helping me, when his name appeared under my name on the Zelle account, I was
told that was so he could see what was happening as we returned my money to my
account.
Even though I apparently agreed to the Digital Agreement, I was under the direction
of the person impersonating a fraud specialist. I had not and would never have
opened a Zelle account if I hadn't been guided to do so, by the person claiming to
be a fraud specialist. I do not feel these aspects of my individual situation are being
understood or taken into consideration. I am a loyal customer of XXXX years. I know
you have policies and procedures that are to be followed, but I think that exceptions
should be considered with individual circumstances, like mine, which, I have tried to
explain to the best of my ability.
The recent letter also reported that a request to recover funds was sent to Zelle, but
they are not obligated to return these funds or respond to the request.
Since having been scammed by Zelle through XXXX XXXX, I have been doing some research.
The Zelle scam has been occurring through XXXX  since the beginning of XXXX  but has
been a known scam through other banks such as XXXX XXXX XXXX, since XXXX. With more
investigation I have discovered that several banks have had significant scam issues through
Zelle. I was extremely SHOCKED to find out that XXXX XXXX is one of the 7 OWNERS of
Zelle through a company, ironically called, EWS (Early Warning Services). I have links
below where I got this information. I can't help but feel that XXXX XXXX  has financially
profited from the Zelle scam that victimized me and so many others. So, the request that
was sent to Zelle, was essentially sent to EWS which XXXX XXXX partially owns.
You cannot imagine how terribly disappointed I am to find out that XXXX  is
not the financial institution I have always believed them to be. I literally cried when I
found this information. A bank I have done ALL my banking through for XXXX
years, has become just another big bank that has no ethical integrity or concern for
its patrons. This is not the bank I opened accounts with XXXX years ago!!
The last thing I want to mention is this information:
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently announced it
was conducting a probe into companies operating payments systems in the United States,
with a special focus on platforms that offer fast, person-to-person payments.
More can be found here:
The Zelle Fraud Scam: How it Works, How to Fight Back XXXX on Security XXXX If this issue is not resolved and I do not receive the money that was "stolen" from my accounts, I will be researching lawyers that take on class action suits of this nature. With Great DisappointmentXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation