Have you ever used an app on your phone to send money to a friend or family member?If so, you should be aware that the number of scamming incidents occurring on a popular payment service has risen dramatically in recent years — and the odds of big banks coming to your rescue is slim.Consumers scammed out of thousandsThe frustration was still fresh for Doug Henry months after he was scammed. Although Henry said it wasn't "easy to sit here and talk about it," he opened up about how he was scammed while using a peer-to-peer payment service in hopes that it brings awareness to the issue and warns other consumers.Henry's daughter is a para-equestrian. He was making payments on a custom saddle for her, and those payments had to get to his daughter's trainer, who is out of state."The writing checks and all of those things are a little outdated and being 3,000 miles away, this was a very convenient process," Henry explained.For the transaction, Henry used Zelle, which is an app that lets you send money instantaneously from your bank account to someone else's. "It's offered through U.S. Bank on their app. And we thought perfect," Henry said.Until it wasn't."My wife got a phone call from US Bank that appeared on her phone. She answered, and they identified themselves as a U.S. Bank representative and that they believe there was fraud happening on our account," Henry told KCRA 3 Investigates' Brittany Johnson.After the scammers said there was a problem with a recent transaction, they asked Henry's wife for their personal information in order to stop the fraud and put the money back into their account.According to Henry, the number and information on the caller ID showed up as U.S. Bank, which is why his wife thought the person was "protecting" them from fraud, and "obliged and went through the process," without thinking much of it.It wasn't until later that the husband and wife realized they were scammed out of $3,500."We let our guard down and we were taken advantage of through that process," Henry said.The $3,500 was the remaining balance to pay off their daughter's custom saddle."She is a lower leg amputee equestrian rider. We worked with a very awesome company that helped us build this saddle, but very expensive," said Henry. "Essentially, the $3,500 was the remaining balance to pay off that saddle. We've already committed to the saddle and it's not the company's fault. We essentially took money out of our regular savings to pay for the remaining balance on the saddle. It's been been been pretty impactful."How this particular scam worksConsumers receive a call and the caller ID appears to be your bank, but it's really a scammer.The scammer will pretend to be a bank representative and say there has been a fraud attempt on your account and they need to stop it.The scammer will ask for a passcode previously sent to you in order to authorize payment to yourself.If the scammer is given that passcode, the money you think you're sending to yourself is actually sent to the scammer."Have you gotten your money back yet?" KCRA 3 Investigates' Brittany Johnson asked Henry."No," he replied. "We have gotten no additional communication from anyone, outside of the claim was basically denied and that it was essentially our responsibility, and that U.S. Bank was taking no accountability for it."Big banks & Zelle aren't coming to the rescueZelle is operated by Early Warning Services LLC.Early Warning is co-owned by Bank of America, Truist, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.A recent investigation conducted by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's office found that banks aren't refunding 90% of Zelle scam claims — and they don't have to.Technically, the banks are not liable to cover fraudulent activity when someone is tricked into sending money to a scammer, which is what happened in the case with Henry. However, banks are required under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to repay customers when funds are illegally taken out of their accounts without authorization. The investigation by Warren's office also found that "an estimated $440 million was lost by Zelle users through frauds and scams in 2021, but that the banks that participate in the network appear not to have provided sufficient recourse to their customers.""You built the system, you profit from every transaction and you tell people that it is safe, but when someone is defrauded you claim that's the customer's problem," said Warren, D-Massachusetts, during a hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, which she is a member of.KCRA 3 Investigates sent an email to US Bank and asked if it was going to refund Henry the $3,500 he was scammed out of.Our question went unanswered."They need to be accountable, and they need to help out their customers," Henry stated."How is the bank not responsible for another company that they're doing business with — offering it to their customers, for me to use, but yet they have no accountability, and what happens with that partner of theirs?"How to protect yourself from scammersOfficials with the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation say once a consumer initiates a payment through a peer-to-peer payment service, "there's not a lot that they can do to get it back."The best thing to do is hang up the phone and don't pass along any personal information, according to Elizabeth Smith, DFPI's Deputy Commissioner for Communications."The key message there is just always to say 'thank you for calling me, I'll call you right back.' Put down the phone, call your bank or your financial institution directly and ask them if they have an issue with your account.""How can someone recognize if something is a scam?" Johnson asked."They're often making things seem really urgent," Smith responded. "Your financial institution would not be coming at you in such an urgent way. The other thing to keep in mind is when a solicitation is coming to you, but it's not someone that you know, or it's not something that you initiated yourself, and it's coming into your inbox or coming into your text message or coming in via a phone call, you really need to think about what who's on the other end of the phone, who's on there on the other end of the text message and be wary of those folks. Always hang up and call your financial institution directly."Click here to file a claim with DFPI if you were scammed. Response from banksKCRA 3 Investigates sent a list of questions to each of the banks that own Zelle, inquiring about the amount of fraud and scams reported and the amount of money that has been paid back to victims.Of the banks who responded – U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Truist and Chase – none of them answered our questions and chose to only send information as to how its customers can avoid scams.Response from ZelleEarly Warning Services, LLC, the network operator of Zelle, is a privately owned company, and records about fraud and scams are not made available to the public. A spokesperson sent KCRA 3 Investigates a press release that stated 99% of payments are sent on its platform without any report of fraud or scams. We were also sent the following statement:"We urge consumers to watch out for spoofed texts or caller ID used in social engineering scams. If you receive a call from someone claiming to be a representative from your bank, hang up and make sure to independently verify they are legitimate. Zelle® does not hold consumers' money. Instead, Zelle® maintains a directory of enrolled users and facilitates messages between participating banks and credit unions to enable transactions between those institutions and their customer. If a consumer is scammed, we urge them to report it to their financial institution immediately."Do you have a story tip?If you have a story tip for the KCRA 3 Investigates team we want to hear from you. Please send an email to Kcrainvestigates@kcra.com.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Have you ever used an app on your phone to send money to a friend or family member?
If so, you should be aware that the number of scamming incidents occurring on a popular payment service has risen dramatically in recent years — and the odds of big banks coming to your rescue is slim.
Advertisem*nt
Consumers scammed out of thousands
The frustration was still fresh for Doug Henry months after he was scammed. Although Henry said it wasn't "easy to sit here and talk about it," he opened up about how he was scammed while using a peer-to-peer payment service in hopes that it brings awareness to the issue and warns other consumers.
Henry's daughter is a para-equestrian.
He was making payments on a custom saddle for her, and those payments had to get to his daughter's trainer, who is out of state.
"The writing checks and all of those things are a little outdated and being 3,000 miles away, this was a very convenient process," Henry explained.
For the transaction, Henry used Zelle, which is an app that lets you send money instantaneously from your bank account to someone else's.
"It's offered through U.S. Bank on their app. And we thought perfect," Henry said.
Until it wasn't.
"My wife got a phone call from US Bank that appeared on her phone. She answered, and they identified themselves as a U.S. Bank representative and that they believe there was fraud happening on our account," Henry told KCRA 3 Investigates' Brittany Johnson.
After the scammers said there was a problem with a recent transaction, they asked Henry's wife for their personal information in order to stop the fraud and put the money back into their account.
According to Henry, the number and information on the caller ID showed up as U.S. Bank, which is why his wife thought the person was "protecting" them from fraud, and "obliged and went through the process," without thinking much of it.
It wasn't until later that the husband and wife realized they were scammed out of $3,500.
"We let our guard down and we were taken advantage of through that process," Henry said.
The $3,500 was the remaining balance to pay off their daughter's custom saddle.
"She is a lower leg amputee equestrian rider. We worked with a very awesome company that helped us build this saddle, but very expensive," said Henry. "Essentially, the $3,500 was the remaining balance to pay off that saddle. We've already committed to the saddle and it's not the company's fault. We essentially took money out of our regular savings to pay for the remaining balance on the saddle. It's been been been pretty impactful."
How this particular scam works
- Consumers receive a call and the caller ID appears to be your bank, but it's really a scammer.
- The scammer will pretend to be a bank representative and say there has been a fraud attempt on your account and they need to stop it.
- The scammer will ask for a passcode previously sent to you in order to authorize payment to yourself.
- If the scammer is given that passcode, the money you think you're sending to yourself is actually sent to the scammer.
"Have you gotten your money back yet?" KCRA 3 Investigates' Brittany Johnson asked Henry.
"No," he replied. "We have gotten no additional communication from anyone, outside of [when they told us] the claim was basically denied and that it was essentially our responsibility, and that U.S. Bank was taking no accountability for it."
Big banks & Zelle aren't coming to the rescue
Zelle is operated by Early Warning Services LLC.
Early Warning is co-owned by Bank of America, Truist, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.
A recent investigation conducted by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's office found that banks aren't refunding 90% of Zelle scam claims — and they don't have to.
Technically, the banks are not liable to cover fraudulent activity when someone is tricked into sending money to a scammer, which is what happened in the case with Henry. However, banks are required under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to repay customers when funds are illegally taken out of their accounts without authorization.
The investigation by Warren's office also found that "an estimated $440 million was lost by Zelle users through frauds and scams in 2021, but that the banks that participate in the network appear not to have provided sufficient recourse to their customers."
"You built the system, you profit from every transaction and you tell people that it is safe, but when someone is defrauded you claim that's the customer's problem," said Warren, D-Massachusetts, during a hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, which she is a member of.
KCRA 3 Investigates sent an email to US Bank and asked if it was going to refund Henry the $3,500 he was scammed out of.
Our question went unanswered.
"They need to be accountable, and they need to help out their customers," Henry stated.
"How is the bank not responsible for another company that they're doing business with — offering it to their customers, for me to use, but yet they have no accountability, and what happens with that partner of theirs?"
How to protect yourself from scammers
Officials with the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation say once a consumer initiates a payment through a peer-to-peer payment service, "there's not a lot that they can do to get it back."
The best thing to do is hang up the phone and don't pass along any personal information, according to Elizabeth Smith, DFPI's Deputy Commissioner for Communications.
"The key message there is just always to say 'thank you for calling me, I'll call you right back.' Put down the phone, call your bank or your financial institution directly and ask them if they have an issue with your account."
"How can someone recognize if something is a scam?" Johnson asked.
"They're often making things seem really urgent," Smith responded. "Your financial institution would not be coming at you in such an urgent way. The other thing to keep in mind is when a solicitation is coming to you, but it's not someone that you know, or it's not something that you initiated yourself, and it's coming into your inbox or coming into your text message or coming in via a phone call, you really need to think about what who's on the other end of the phone, who's on there on the other end of the text message and be wary of those folks. Always hang up and call your financial institution directly."
Click here to file a claim with DFPI if you were scammed.
Response from banks
KCRA 3 Investigates sent a list of questions to each of the banks that own Zelle, inquiring about the amount of fraud and scams reported and the amount of money that has been paid back to victims.
Of the banks who responded – U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Truist and Chase – none of them answered our questions and chose to only send information as to how its customers can avoid scams.
Response from Zelle
Early Warning Services, LLC, the network operator of Zelle, is a privately owned company, and records about fraud and scams are not made available to the public.
A spokesperson sent KCRA 3 Investigates a press release that stated 99% of payments are sent on its platform without any report of fraud or scams.
We were also sent the following statement:
"We urge consumers to watch out for spoofed texts or caller ID used in social engineering scams. If you receive a call from someone claiming to be a representative from your bank, hang up and make sure to independently verify they are legitimate.
Zelle® does not hold consumers' money. Instead, Zelle® maintains a directory of enrolled users and facilitates messages between participating banks and credit unions to enable transactions between those institutions and their customer. If a consumer is scammed, we urge them to report it to their financial institution immediately."
Do you have a story tip?
If you have a story tip for the KCRA 3 Investigates team we want to hear from you.
Please send an email to Kcrainvestigates@kcra.com.
