INDIANAPOLIS, Ind – The Better Business Bureau and several major banks are warning people against the “pay yourself” scam, which aims to use the payment app “Zelle” to steal from unsuspecting victims.
“It’s kind of a combination of a phishing attempt as well as posing as a bank,” said Better Business Bureau spokesperson Jennifer Adamany.
“All they’re trying to do is to take over your home banking account so that they can then use Zelle to send money to themselves,” said Forum Credit Union C.O.O. Andy Mattingly.
The scam works by tricking bank customers into thinking fraud has been detected on their accounts. A text message that looks like it’s from your bank says there has been suspicious activity on your account, possibly a suspicious purchase, and the only way to stop it is for you to send yourself a payment using Zelle. Once you respond to the scammer, they begin the process of tricking you into doing what they want.
“A lot of people don’t even know that they have Zelle connected with their account, that’s what gets a lot of people confused,” Mattingly said.
A confused customer may realize for the first time that they have Zelle attached to their account and attempt to use it in an attempt to send the payment to themself. When you enroll in Zelle the first time, your bank will send you a one-time code to verify your identity and…
