Consumer complaint received 2021-02-25
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC (MD)

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a call from the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX Customer Service number XXXX. The alleged XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX representative informed me they had detected fraudulent activity on my account by a person named XXXX XXXX, who had hacked my account and made two transfers through Zelle ( one for {$2000.00} and one for {$1500.00} ) to a XXXX XXXX in Georgia. They told me I had to take action immediately to stop the transfer from happening, and that I would receive an email from XXXXXXXX XXXX  with a code so that they could verify they were talking to the right person. I did receive an email from XXXX a few seconds later. I thought the call was suspicious, so I decided to hang up. Because I wanted to make sure that I didn't hang up on a real XXXX  representative and to ensure that if there was indeed fraudulent activity taking place on my account, I looked up on XXXX XXXX website for a number to call ( and also did a XXXX search to check on whether that number was recently hacked, and found no information in that regard ), and called the Customer Service number. The exact same representative responded, so at that point I assumed it was a legitimate XXXX  call. I was instructed to create a new Zelle recipient for myself ( with my name and email address ) and send myself the two transfers. As soon as I made those transfers I realized that they went out, not in, and immediately called a different XXXX number to stop the transaction from happening. It was extremely difficult to get in touch with the fraud department ( especially considering that at that point I couldn't trust the Customer Service number ), but after speaking with a representative in a local office, I was able to get a number from her. I spoke with a representative who was extremely unhelpful, mocked me for being scammed, didn't ask me any question of substance regarding the episode. He said it was too late to reverse the transaction, though I called the number as soon as the episode happened. He told me he filed the claim, and only when I proactively told him that the reason why I was scammed was that I called a XXXX official number after hanging up on the scammers he added that into the notes. He also told me the resolution of the issue could take up to three months, and said he had no idea on how ( email, letter, phone call ) and when I would be informed about the status of my claim. He also didn't recommend I take any further action to protect my account, despite the fact that the scammers had my debit card information ( including the security code ). I then called back and spoke with a different representative and blocked my card. On XX/XX/XXXX, after seeking legal advice, I called back the same number and asked to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor told me that the actual timeline of the investigation is ten days, and that I will be contacted by email. She did not respond to my questions regarding why I was told inconsistent information about the process ahead, or why XXXX does not seem to have taken action to protect their customers. In addition, Zelle has made it impossible to speak with an actual human being when calling their customer number for frauds. My husband repeatedly tried to reach a person, was not able to, and ultimately we ended up submitting a fraud claim on Zelle 's website. As of XX/XX/XXXX, we have not heard a word back from Zelle.