> I was scammed $350 from one of the Zelle scammers. I know, I know, I was stupid for falling for it.
No, you were trained to fall for it by companies behaving a lot like scammers most of the time.
No, you were trained to fall for it by companies behaving a lot like scammers most of the time.
I ignored it.
I got it again and ignored it.
On the third attempt, I finally called my bank. It actually was from them, and they really did somehow not have my proof of insurance, and really were going to cancel my loan.
I tried to explain to them what was wrong with the email, but they couldn't understand.
Edit: In the end, I physically went to the bank to handle it. I didn't do anything else remotely with them.
I somehow forgot to pay a bill for daycare, and it went to their payment recovery contractor (it went automatically, without nobody telling me anything despite me going there every day). So the company called, said I had missed a bill and I needed to pay then over the phone with my credit card. Obviously they went mad when I told them I won't pay this way without receiving any king of paper by the mail or something to at least give me the slightest confidence that this wasn't a scam attempt. They ended up mailing me two weeks later, and charged me a fee for late payment…
Seriously, how do you want people not to fall for scammers if legit companies act the same way and charge you for being cautious…
It happens if you have a history of not being a previous customer with them. I had a notice of good payment history from my previous electric company from another state and the company in the new state still required a deposit.
In the US, any business that requests payment outside of credit card/debit card/ACH/checks is questionable.
(every time, me: "Have you bothered to look at the google maps for my home before you called?" Them: "No, let me check... Ohhhh" me: "Yeahhhh... I can't get rid of the trees because they are rooted in the neighbor's property. Not that it wouldn't be quite ironic to remove decades-old trees just to install solar on a roof.")
Every time they call me and ask to "go through verification" - aka I give a random stranger on the phone the personal information they need to identify themselves with my bank - so I tell them I'll call them back instead
Then i call back and get bounced around through multiple teams until inevitably the call drops, I think because my mortgage was bought from another bank so it isn't well understood by customer support
Anyway, I think it is legit calls I get from the bank. I hope it isn't important because i still haven't got through to them to talk about it
They probably bought it from some data broker.
They sell our data to scammers to let them be entirely convincing, and then blame people who fall for it.
Let alone calling up and demanding I pay using Zelle...
In every case where I've gotten a message / phone call informing me that I need to provide some sensitive information or make a transaction, I determine the organization that they are purportedly representing, navigate to the official website, find the relevant contact info, and call back.
I always assumed everybody did this to prevent these exact types of situations.
Perhaps it's time for some regulation - of course, drafted with the extreme care that almost no regulation is written with, but should be...
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/security-center/phishing-...
No such thing for the phone numbers though, and since they were just regular landlines not recognised by Google and not available through a Google search, I declined to provide them any information.
There absolutely needs to be regulation for that, like there is the "Mentions Legales" or "Imprint" in France and Germany (a website needs to have a page who they are actually, with an address and everyhing).
As harvey9 says in a sibling comment, "If they publish an outbound number then scammers will spoof it.", so perhaps publishing a phone number isn't useful - but they should actually state that on their web site, as well as providing a protocol that allows the bank/agency/company/utility to authenticate itself to you.
> "Mentions Legales" or "Imprint" in France and Germany (a website needs to have a page who they are actually, with an address and everyhing).
I like this concept - let's extend it to include an authentication protocol, as above.
Unless telecom operators are forced to take actions to prevent spoofing.
Zelle, Western Union, Venmo, PayPal (family) literally gives you warnings, multiple prompts, to say that it is irreversible, pay it only to known people, dont use it for government payments, make sure to check registered name, and stuff.
We as customers should know that no utility company, gas, power, internet, government offices, their representatives accept or want payments by Zelle. Zelle is great for person to person, or one time cash-like transactions. If one handover wad of cash to a person claiming a utility representative, one would not expect to get that cash back if he was fraud.
Zelle is irreversible by design (unless receiver sends it back). Otherwise what would stop from people using it like credit card chargebacks?. The only time I have heard zelle txn getting reversed is if reciever asks & insists to his bank that this money is not for me, undo this txn. Although there is a variation of fake check scam reverse zelle too. Just liek check, scammers arrange a zelle incoming from victim 1 to victim 2. Then calls victim 2that it was mistake. Please zelle it back to "me". Victim 2 does zelle. Original txn gets recalled because either victim 1 found it or his bank found it. Victim 2 is out of his good money.