A scammer posing as a bank employee allegedly stole thousands of dollars from an Alabama woman’s bank account by using the Zelle app to withdraw money from her account.
Zelle, ‘the #1 tool for scammers’
The Better Business Bureau of North Alabama is warning the public to be on the lookout for a fraud involving the popular mobile wallet app Zelle. Scammers pose as representatives of your commercial bank in order to deceive you into transferring your hard-earned money to them.
As per CBS42 News, because it is operated by several of the nation’s top institutions, including Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, the money transfer app was expected to be safer than all of the others. Zelle, on the other hand, is quickly becoming the most popular tool for scammers.
WKRN reported that Katherine Bucy, a Huntsville resident, received a phone call from a scammer just minutes after walking out of the bank. The individual on the other end of the line stated that someone was attempting to transfer thousands of dollars from her account to their own account.
Bucy, a single mother who works a full-time job while also attending school, provided them with all the details they required to protect the account’s information.
Bucy said that she put her name and her phone number, and she hit the send button. That is where her money was sent to another bank account.
Raising awareness of common scam scenarios
As per the report, In an interview with Nexstar, Wells Fargo spokesperson Amy Amirault stated that the bank is attempting to raise awareness of common scam scenarios and encourage customers to seek assistance from the bank’s Online Security Center.
Amirault also stated that Wells Fargo is unable to comment on any specific client or the investigative process due to privacy issues at the moment.
Wells Fargo recommends against sharing temporary access credentials or PINs with anyone who contacts customers unexpectedly. To prevent fraud, the bank said that it will never contact a customer and ask them to send money.
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