CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Zelle is a popular and convenient way to transfer money, but Channel 9 has a warning for users. In just 12 days, eight people contacted Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke because they were scammed out of money through the app.
Kris Leagan says she got a text that looked like it was from her bank. She says it asked if she authorized a certain Zelle transaction.
She told Stoogenke that she replied to the text stating that she did not authorize the transaction and almost immediately after she sent it, someone called her saying he was with her bank’s fraud department.
“He just seemed to have said all the right things to me,” Leagan said. She also said the caller had spoofed her bank’s phone number, so it looked correct on her caller ID.
According to Leagan, the caller walked her through a complicated process to create a new account and moved her money to it. She told Stoogenke she lost $3,500.
“(I feel) like somebody truly kicked me in my gut,” she said. “That feeling afterwards is just awful.”
Leagan filed a police report and a fraud claim with her bank, Wells Fargo. She says the bank sent her a letter refusing to replace the $3,500.
“I’m not somebody who has a lot of money. I work really hard for my money,” she said. “It’s my savings, so, yeah, it’s not good.”
