Consumer complaint received 2023-02-08
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC (NY)

On Wednesday, XX/XX/2023, I received a message regarding a TV stand I posted on XXXX XXXX. The buyer ( scammer ) wanted to purchase it for {$100.00} and claimed to not have cash and am only able to transfer the money through Zelle, the money transfer app. I sent over my email for the Zelle transaction and received an email from Zelle ( claims to be from corporate Zelle company ) stating that the {$100.00} credit is currently pending due to the buyer account is a business account so my account must be a business account in order to receive the credit. 
First email is as follows : " We are having a problem crediting your account with the sum of {$100.00}. The payment was sent from a business account and which makes the payment got held by Zelle on your end because the status of your account is not a business user account, and which can not be refund back to the sender 's account. So you have to take the urgent step below now to upgrade your account to a business account as to receive the payment. 
Kindly Take the urgent step below to upgrade your account. 

To fully expand your zelle account into a business user account, kindly contact the last Payer of your account to send you an additional payment of {$400.00} so the status of your account can be upgraded as a business user account. You will receive a total sum of {$500.00} immediately the additional payment has been sent to your account. Then the refund of {$400.00} will be sent to the senders account from your end immediately the full payment has been released into your account. '' In order to become a business account, the account must receive at least {$500.00} in credit. The buy then claims to send over {$400.00}, asking me to refund them the {$400.00} afterward. Zelle emails me saying the sender has now sent over {$400.00} that is pending and now I'm required to return the {$400.00} with screenshots in order for the pending credits to go through into my account. 
Their email for this step is as follows : " Dear Customer, You have successfully received an additional payment of {$400.00} USD For your account to be credited fully with the sum of {$500.00} USD You are required to send the sum of {$400.00} USD ( FIRST ) to the buyers Zelle information for your buyers safety, so as to secure the additional payment the buyer sent to expand your account and also we congratulate you for successfully upgrading your account to Business User which gives you unlimited access to all business features on your regular account.

FINAL STEPS & INSTRUCTIONS TO FOLLOW : Below are the steps : 1. Get your Zelle account ready.

2. Ask for the Zelle details from the payment issuer.

3. Send the refund of {$400.00} USD to the buyer 's given account.

4. You are hereby required to send us the proof of the refund ( SCREENSHOT OR PICTURE ) that the money has been sent to the given information for your account to be fully credited with the sum of {$500.00} USD IMPORTANT NOTE : YOUR FUNDS HAS BEEN APPROVED & SECURED BUT YOU ARE REQUIRED TO CARRY ON AND FOLLOW THE GIVEN INSTRUCTION ABOVE FOR YOUR ACCOUNT TO BE FULLY CREDITED WITH THE TOTAL SUM OF {$500.00} USD Thanks for choosing Zelle and we are looking forward to serving all our valuable customers better.

Thank you for using Zelle '' I sent over the {$400.00} refund through Zelle and received another email stating that there are errors with the account. The second email is as follows : " This is to inform you that we have received your payment of {$400.00} USD which has been approved, in order to get the full total {$500.00} USD transferred into your Zelle account in the next 10 minutes you are here by to pay the certificate form fee of {$500.00} USD so that we can start the processing of the funds, the certificate form fee represent the approval of your funds and also stands as insurance to your Business account, the money will be added to your pending fund.This happened because of the mistake from your end.

You have to take this urgent step.

For your account to be credited fully with the sum of {$1000.00} USD with the certificate fee. You are required to send the money to the info given below now so we can credit your account with the total amount of $ XXXX. Please note no mistake will be acknowledged This is the Zelle Agent info for the payment Below AMOUNT TO PAY : {$500.00} Email : XXXX Name : XXXX XXXX Note : This payment need to be sent within 10 minutes after 10 mins validate the info again from us Kindly send the screenshot of the transaction so we can proceed with you Zelle certificate We are very sorry for any in-convenient this might have caused you. 

Note : the certificate has been approved by our board of director and you are to get the card so we can credit your balance without any formof delay. 

Thanks For Using Zelle! '' After receiving this email, I tried to reach out to the buyer to reclaim the {$400.00} that was sent through Zelle. The buyer had deleted themselves from the chat and is not able to be found under their name anymore. 

Actions taken : - Attempted to reclaim the {$400.00} amount back - Reported fraud/scam on XXXX- Filed a fraud/scam claim through my bank - Filed a fraud/scam claim through Zelle