Consumer complaint received 2024-08-02
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC (TX)

I will try to provide as much detail as possible - on XX/XX/XXXX, I saw an ad on XXXX ( city page named XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX ) that explained there are football tickets for sale. I normally try to be cautious about sellers, but the profile seemed legitimate ( an older profile, with several photos, a local resident, tagged places and photos that were local, etc. ). In addition, the seller knew things about the football team/college that were very specific, like that I needed to download the XXXX XXXX app and my email address was what is used to transfer tickets, five year season ticket holders have better offers, etc. The sellers name is XXXX XXXX from XXXX, TX. This seemed believable, so I attempted to transfer the money to purchase XXXX tickets from both XXXX XXXX and Zelle. However, my transactions did not go through. Im not sure if it was due to a suspicious receiving account or the fact it was a new contact, but I then proceeded to ask my husband to try to send the money ( {$800.00} ) from his XXXX XXXX  account using Zelle. His attempt was successful. As a note : the seller said that they did not have Zelle, so it would be ok to send the money to his partner, named XXXX XXXX. Their email address is XXXX. Then, XXXX let me know that his partner did not receive the money, so he couldnt send the tickets yet. This is when I start to get concerned. My husband calls XXXX XXXX, and they explain that the funds were delivered, and it seems to be to another XXXX XXXX, with last four digits ending in XXXX. At this point, I do have a feeling weve been scammed by someone impersonating a season ticket holder, and possibly XXXX XXXX. XXXX tried to reassure me that he was not scamming me by sending a heavily altered photos of a XXXX email as proof, but I NEVER received the tickets. I then try to be somewhat sneaky in an attempt to get more information out of this person in the hope I can get my money back. I created a new XXXX account and messaged the seller- he explains he still has all four tickets available ( shocker, and its pretty obvious at this point ). But here is where I start wondering if they have a larger scheme, like beyond just this ticket selling in XXXX. They give me XXXX different numbers to try, with different names other than XXXX XXXX. They are : XXXX and XXXX and XXXX. One of those numbers is tied to a XXXX XXXX. These numbers were given to me in an attempt to get me to send money through either XXXX XXXX or Zelle again. Clearly, I didnt send any additional money, and I let them know that I tried to send payment and it kept failing. However, they then told me that they received payment from another buyer just a few minutes ago, and it went through. This is hours later, after I sent money to the account earlier in the day from my husband. So they must be talking about someone else who fell for their scheme. Im not sure how many people they are scamming, but it could be many. It also seems like they could possibly be stealing identities, because I googled those numbers, and they do match names to real people on the internet. Anyway, Im not sure if my case will ever be looked at. I would love to get my {$800.00} back, as Im really in need of it. However, I also want justice to be brought to this person so others are not facing the same problem. This individual seems to be relatively smart, as they knew things about my XXXX university that a typical person would not. And it seems they are able to get multiple phone numbers, accounts, email addresses, and most likely hacked into a XXXX account to steal money. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted a claim to Zelle and XXXX XXXX. It looks like on XX/XX/XXXX, there was a Zelle reversal, but on XX/XX/XXXX, Zelles investigation was not able to provide me with my money back, and the money was withdrawn from my husbands account. Unfortunately, I did not receive any information as to why. I am taking this avenue now based on research. 

Thank you in advance for looking into this. I do have screenshots that Im willing to provide as evidence.