TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – The popular peer-to-peer money transfer system, Zelle, is under fire as fraud cases explode and consumers across the country lose millions.
Zelle, owned by major banks, is embedded into many online accounts. Transactions are instant, which is attractive to consumers. But they are also irreversible, which is attractive to criminals.
Scott Schaefer of Pinellas Park tells Consumer Investigator Shannon Behnken that he lost $9,000 through Zelle and that, unlike many reported cases, he did not fall for a scam and initiate the transfers himself.
$9K lost
“I’m looking at my account and all of a sudden money is being transferred to somebody, and I have no idea who they are,” Schaefer said.
He says he called Chase Bank immediately when he saw the first pending transaction and asked to stop the transfer.
“Two hours later – after dropped calls, folks giving scripted questions and scripted answers and so forth – they say they’ll look into it, and that’s it,” Schaefer said. “You head into the weekend, and you’ve lost almost $5,000.”
Not only did the transfer continue to go through, he says, but even after he moved his money to a second, new account and asked for Zelle to not be attached, he was hit again. He says that brought his losses to $9,000.
His claims…
