Consumer complaint received 2025-08-23 00:00:00
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service — Mobile or digital wallet
Issue: Fraud or scam — 
Company: Early Warning Services, LLC
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/year> at XXXX a person by the name of XXXX XXXX called me from this New York XXXX NY phone number ( XXXX ) XXXX claiming to be a XXXX bank representative. They told me that my account was compromised and asked if I knew a person by the name of XXXX XXXX because that person was trying to send XXXX out of my XXXX bank account. They told me in order to keep my funds safe that I would need to Zelle all of the money in my account to upper management. They then proceeded to instruct me to add various people to my Zelle specifically under the Friends/Family option and to NOT choose the Bank Representative option, claiming that the fraudsters usually pick this and that it was a red flag to XXXX - XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX They instructed me to send all of my funds to those accounts in order to keep it safe, in {$500.00} - {$1000.00} increments until all of the money was sent. When all of the money was unable to send at once they told me that I would need to go to my nearest XXXX, claiming that XXXX had safe hold boxes for funds. They sent me multiple XXXX bar codes, instructed me to go to the money services counter and NOT tell them that I was on the phone with anybody and to not mention anything about fraud to the person at the counter. The person who I was on the phone with at this point- who claimed to be named XXXX XXXX XXXX stood on the phone with me the whole time I drove to XXXX with my children and proceeded to complete the transaction. He also told me to NOT tell the person at the money services counter that I had multiple XXXX barcodes to scan, saying that the person behind the registers can be LAZY and to just give the XXXX barcode I have at a time. When my XXXX XXXXXXXX card declined, the person XXXX XXXX instructed me to go to the nearest ATM take out all of the cash from my account the go back to the money services counter and attempt to try the transaction again, claiming that any ATM fees would be refunded back to me, when I asked. It was at this point that something registered in my mind that something was NOT right. I finally decided to call both of my banks ( the actual number on the back of my ATM cards - XXXX  and XXXX XXXXXXXX, where I was scammed out of my funds ) and asked if anyone called me from their team. They told me that no one from XXXX or XXXX XXXX would ever contact me by phone regarding my accounts and that it was a scam. I then proceeded to file fraud claims by phone with both banks in order to try to recover my funds- {$2500.00} in total. I also contacted Zelle to try and recover my funds as well. Both banks said that it would take at least XXXX business days to investigate and that after the 10 days I would be issued a temporary credit in its place. The Zelle representative told me that they had no insurance and that funds were not guaranteed to be recovered. The scammers never once asked me for any account numbers directly, but did give me a series of verification codes to put into the memo boxes of each Zelle transaction. I also noticed that throughout the entire phone interaction, which went on from around XXXX and continued on and off until about XXXX, by this time I was already in XXXX as they instructed me to do. The calls were disconnecting quite often, but theyd call right back. Theyd also frequently put me on hold claiming to have to speak with their supervisor and/or escalate this to upper management. I strongly believe them to be of XXXX decent based on their accents and names used. At XXXX point they told me that theyd have to contact their manager regarding the matter and that theyd call me back in XXXX mins but if they didnt call back, to call THEM back at this number ( XXXX ) XXXX, where I spoke with the supposed upper manager who went by the name XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation