PHOENIX — A new report by the United States Senate shows that scammers targeting users of payment service apps, such as Zelle, have been happening more often over the past couple of years.
Scammers are using the service apps as a way to take money from people who don't even know they've been hit until it's too late.
"$7,500 was gone," Marshall Cheeseboro told 12News last month.
Cheeseboro fell victim to a "Pay Yourself" scam where scammers will pretend to be bank employees, and ask you to transfer money to yourself using a payment service app.
Scammers then take hold of your account and take your money.
"They changed the routing information so that way once I sent it back to who I thought was myself, it was actually sending to them," said Cheeseboro.
The report was part of an investigation launched earlier this year by U.S. senators, who specifically looked at Zelle and several of the banks associated with the company.
Since the start of 2021, 192,878 scams and cases of fraud were reported. In those cases, only about 3,500 of them were reimbursed by their banks.
12News reached out to Zelle about the report. They sent the following statement:
"Tens of millions of consumers use Zelle® without incident, with more than 99.9% of payments completed without any report of fraud or scam. Zelle® usage has grown significantly since its launch, from 247 million transactions in 2017 to 1.8 billion in 2021, while the proportion of fraud and scams has steadily decreased. In addition to our seven owners, we currently have more than 1700 banks and credit unions of all sizes offering Zelle® in their app. Reports of Zelle® not reimbursing consumers are inaccurate. Zelle® is not a financial institution; it does not hold or transfer consumer’s money, or maintain consumer accounts. Zelle® transactions—made through financial institutions on the Zelle Network®—are subject to the consumer protection framework that applies to electronic funds transfers under the EFTA and Regulation E. Further, Zelle® has gone beyond requirements under Regulation E and adopted a “zero-liability” approach requiring all participant institutions on the Network to reimburse in full for any transaction determined to be unauthorized."
- Early Warning Services, LLC, the network operator of Zelle®.
"There's nothing you can really do about it, and then you're left with like what, $2,000 in your account and you have all these bills you have to pay," said Cheeseboro.
Cheeseboro is now warning others to be alert, that way the next time you send money, it doesn't get into the wrong hands.
If you believe you've received a suspicious alert or phone call from your bank, it's advised you hang up and call your bank by using the number on the back of your card. Also, your bank will never ask you to send money to yourself.
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