Weird mystery about a zelle payment

amother

↑ OP ↓

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 5:29 pm

amother Brown wrote:

Is English his first language? Maybe he is misunderstanding.

Yes, I think it is his first language.

Ok, thanks everyone. I think I want to put this out of my mind. It's distressing to me that someone thinks I am scamming him, but I cannot undo a fraud claim that I never made. I iterally cannot help him fix this.
I hope his issue gets resolved soon.

amother

White

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 5:35 pm

amother OP wrote:

Right.
So, if theoretically, I paid someone, and found out afterwards that that person is a scammer, can I call my bank and tell them that this payment was not authorized? Or too bad on me?

see this thread

https://www.imamother.com/foru.....85798

↑ Sweet as Pie

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 7:39 pm

Ok here’s the deal

I was scammed by someone and I paid through Zelle. I realized it was a scam afterwards and called the bank. They said they can’t do anything or put a stop to payments etc. there’s a little warning on the bottom of the Zelle page warning about that

This means that it’s impossible that you “called the bank to put a complaint or refusal to pay”

It’s impossible.

This is why scammers use Zelle and cashapp

amother

↑ Mulberry ↓

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 8:07 pm

amother Butterscotch wrote:

Now that your bank confirmed what I said. Just ignore him. The last thing is a red flag. Ok so show the messages to your bank, why is he saying it like he’ll need more messages with possibly your info… be careful. He may come back and say I need your account routing info, or I need a screenshot of your account in which he can use info etc… don’t give him anything at all.

Agree she shouldn’t do anything else at this point.
But I just want to point out…
Your account number and routing number is on every check someone write… and if he would’ve wanted to spoof or record her voice he could’ve just called her write away asking this information without all the texts.
I’m not saying she should give it to him.. just pointing out the facts

amother

↑ Butterscotch ↓

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 8:08 pm

amother Mulberry wrote:

Yes but combined with other info he has he is collecting way too much info. And the risk is when someone has too much to then hack you.

amother

↑ Mulberry ↓

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 8:12 pm

amother Butterscotch wrote:

Yes but combined with other info he has he is collecting way too much info. And the risk is when someone has too much to then hack you.

A check literally has your name, address phone number, routing number, account number..
(Not related to this thread)
But I always wondered about that…
Why don’t they put a bar code, QR code that only the bank can read Speechless

amother

↑ OP ↓

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 8:16 pm

amother Butterscotch wrote:

Yes but combined with other info he has he is collecting way too much info. And the risk is when someone has too much to then hack you.

What info of mine does he have? He has my name, address and phone number. I haven't given him any other info.

amother

Anemone

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 8:31 pm

amother Mulberry wrote:

This is why isn’t not recommended to use checks anymore. They’re a fraud risk. Anyone can take your account and routing number and pay their electric bill or anything that takes echeck

amother

↑ Butterscotch ↓

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 8:32 pm

amother OP wrote:

What info of mine does he have? He has my name, address and phone number. I haven't given him any other info.

It’s too much already. That’s why I’m saying all that combined with anything else is close to enough to impersonate you or hack you. It doesn’t take much nowadays.

amother

↑ Butterscotch

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 8:33 pm

amother Anemone wrote:

This is why isn’t not recommended to use checks anymore. They’re a fraud risk. Anyone can take your account and routing number and pay their electric bill or anything that takes echeck

Checks are stolen all the time. Also it can be duplicated, you can rewrite the numbers and deposit for more. So many scams happened with checks.

amother

↑ Mulberry ↓

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 9:08 pm

amother Anemone wrote:

This is why isn’t not recommended to use checks anymore. They’re a fraud risk. Anyone can take your account and routing number and pay their electric bill or anything that takes echeck

That’s my question… why haven’t the banks come up with a better system by now

amother

DarkCyan ↓

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 9:59 pm

amother Mulberry wrote:

That’s my question… why haven’t the banks come up with a better system by now

Credit cards with no intermediary (like Venmo or PayPal) are pretty good. If there are any issues, you can file a chargeback. I've had credit card companies contact me directly when there were fraudulent purchases - I didn't even know something was going on but they were already on top of it.

Problem is the processing fees for merchants are pretty high so not everyone wants to take them. And of course you have to qualify for credit cards.

amother

↑ Mulberry

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 10:03 pm

amother DarkCyan wrote:

Yup! Cc is the main thing I use…but there are those few times (probably less then 10 a year) that I do write a check.
You would think banks would’ve figured out a better system by 2024😀

amother

↑ DarkCyan

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 10:08 pm

bayis ne’eman wrote:

With checks though I believe the banks fraud department stands behind you and you can get your money back unlike a zelle payment or wire which you initiate

Right. My understanding is that because *you* are authorizing a payment, it's really hard to get anything through Zelle or Venmo reversed, even if you paid a scammer or paid a wrong account or something like that. You still authorized it.

Contrast that with a situation where you've written a check but someone else changes the amount so the check is for more $$, or someone takes your routing and account numbers and tries to pay for something with it. The fraud here is more obvious because someone else changed what you did by either altering a number or making a purchase you never made, so a bank fraud department can investigate.

↑ Ma3

Tue, Nov 19 2024, 10:22 pm

amother OP wrote:

I had to go to the bank to take care of another matter, and while was there, I asked the manager about this story. She said that once the money leaves my account there is nothing they can do to trace it.

She said the other person has to deal directly with their bank and the banks work it out between themselves.

I told this to the guy and this was his response:
That's not what the bank is saying, they specifically told us that you did not authorize the Zelle transaction and they are removing the money from our account now. I will need to show them the messages between us to prove that it was not a fraud transaction

Red flag - If his account is really frozen, they don't take out or remove money while it's frozen.

I think it's a good idea to stop the back and forth with him. He needs to deal with his bank/zelle and not keep coming back to you.

As a side note, I've never heard of a worker, especially non-jewish one, doing a job and coming after you a month later about his zelle payment. Where was he the past few weeks?? Also, for the future, it's always good to confirm by text when sending someone money to make sure they received it.

If he seems genuine, there's 2 points:
1. Most scams people fall for seem genuine.
2. If it isn't a scam, perhaps he doesn't know how to deal with frozen zelle account. Can he currently receive zelle payments? If yes, the account isn't frozen. If not, let him call Zelle and deal with them.