Consumer complaint received 2026-03-24 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Unauthorized transactions or other transaction problem — 
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC
State: NV

Complaint narrative:
I have XXXX unauthorized transactions that occurred on my bank account - one through Zelle for {$1800.00} to an XXXX XXXX ( associated phone number XXXX ) and XXXX unauthorized transactions using my debit card through XXXX for the amounts of {$750.00} and then subsequently {$1300.00} to a XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) via their platform. I am not familiar with either party and have never sent money to either individual previously. All XXXX transactions took place around XXXX XXXX while I was at home, in bed. None of these transactions were authorized, they are not to people I know, and in amounts that drained my entire checking account within moments. I have reported the issue to XXXX XXXX my financial institution and spoke with their security specialist for Zelle, XXXX, who reviewed the Zelle transaction and could clearly see that the money was moved to the XXXX XXXX account and then immediately transferred to another account. I have also reported the issue to XXXX, as the first smaller transaction of {$270.00} and the subsequent transaction of {$1300.00} are well outside my normal use of their platform and clearly follow a standard pattern of test withdrawal and larger withdrawal according to the FBI 's website on financial cyber crimes. I recently moved from XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, XXXX as of XX/XX/year>. This event occurred on XX/XX/year> at XXXX AM in the local time zone. XXXX has responded that this fraudulent activity is in line with my normal use of their platform, which is inaccurate and blatantly false as I have never used their platform to transfer more than {$35.00}. In the past XXXX months I have used XXXX XXXX times to transfer amounts of {$35.00}, {$25.00}, and {$13.00} with verifications on the XXXX Platform that these individuals are known to me and in my contacts list. XXXX XXXX is not, nor do the XXXX transactions have the same processing information as the other XXXX that were authorized. I have submitted a police report, an FBI IC3 report, and multiple screenshots of the falsified transactions to them to request assistance getting my stolen money back. To date they have denied the request twice, thus I have escalated it a third time as I can not afford to lose this money. Similarly I have escalated the Zelle concern with XXXX XXXX, as their standard alerts and notifications did not activate as intended for a Zelle transfer because they were done without my permission. According to a customer service agent I spoke with, the ip address initiating the transfer is the same as my usual device, which is not possible as I have had possession of my phone the whole time. I do not understand how it's possible that the ip could match unless someone was remotely controlling my XXXX XXXX app. I have attached screenshots from inside the XXXX XXXX XXXX app to show that XXXX XXXX is NOT someone I send money to, but somehow he received money from me. The names listed in the screenshot are people I know and have in fact sent money to before. Whoever XXXX XXXX is, he is not one of them. I have requested assistance from both institutions to get back the stolen money and I am being met with resistance to help. I do not know how my information was gathered or used to steal money from me, only that it was done. The security specialist XXXX from XXXX mentioned that there are many methods that can be used such as something he called skimming or the fact that my personal information has been out in the world because of my move from XXXX XXXX XXXX allowing someone to use that information to steal from me. I had to provide a lot of personal information to set up utilities, arrange for my mail to be delivered, and a variety of other reasons related to the move - regardless, the consumer protections from Zelle and XXXX are highly inadequate compared to the technology being used by scammers or thieves. I have learned after the fact from reading online that many people worldwide face these same issues and are using platforms like Zelle, XXXX, and XXXX to create situations where good people are losing hard earned money without even knowing that their information has been compromised or their phone accessed without permission to steal from them. I just want my money back and to be protected from scammers by the institutions that are supposed to secure my finances, rather than forced to keep requesting assistance over and over for something clearly obvious to anyone with sense as thievery.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation