Beware Zelle online payment service

[Chief Sapulpa]

Zelle is being sued by the US Federal Government Consumer Financial Protection Bureau stating that Zelle, by not having any consumer protection, knowingly allows scammers to operate.

CFPB Sues JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo for Allowing Fraud to Fester on Zelle | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued the operator of Zelle and three of the nation’s largest banks for failing to protect consumers from widespread fraud on America’s most widely available peer-to-peer payment network.

www.consumerfinance.gov

According to the CFPB, consumers have lost over $870 Million via Zelle since it began in 2017.

 

[glassparman]

Trust no man . . . or his payment service.

As a 35+ year IT pro, I am always suspicious of digital pay companies. I have backed out of several transactions because the seller demanded I use Zelle.

Zelle is synonymous for 'scam' LOL

 

[jackary]

I have used Venmo and PayPal mostly since those two are the same ownership and have a long track record.

 

[mouthpiece]

No it doesn't mean that it is a scam.
I have Zelle along with PP and other services.
With any of these, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW AND TRUST the party you are trading with.
I mostly use Zelle with family or CLOSE friends.
Zelle , does not provide protection but neither does PP gift/F&F. Some sellers/ buyer prefer certain methods of payment for various reasons.
Not everything is a scam, you just need to be wise about it.
Otherwise don't be a fool!
Even with PayPal G&S with protection you can lose your money.

 

[TerryMiller]

I have used Venmo and PayPal mostly since those two are the same ownership and have a long track record.

The wife canceled her PayPal credit card after they declined to let us purchase some ammo in Idaho a few years ago with that card. No big loss as she seldom ever used the card anyway.

We used to also pay the lot rent for our RV with PayPal prior to that, but have since switched to another form of electronic payment.

 

[Wojownik]

I use Zelle but only to trusted family. Works great for me in that aspect and I have never had any issues in all the years using it.

It does give a warning before sending money to ensure I’m sending to someone trusting and mentions being aware of scams.

You can get scammed on any platform at the end of the day. Kind of like “buyer beware”, sender must also beware.

 

[Firpo]

I only use my Visa card for online purchases and do use Zelle on rare occasion to send $$ to my kids.

 

[SoonerP226]

I heard about this recently, and the basic problem is that Zelle won’t (really, can’t) protect you against your own gullibility.

Here’s a pretty good discussion on the topic. If the embedded video doesn’t start there, jump to the 10:13 mark.

 

[KOPBET]

Zelle is not by itself a scam. I use it occasionally to send money to F&F and it works great.

If you get scammed, it's most likely your own fault.

 

[SoonerP226]

Zelle is not by itself a scam. I use it occasionally to send money to F&F and it works great.

If you get scammed, it's most likely your own fault.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s your own fault, because that’s 100% on the scammer, but it’s certainly not the bank’s fault, nor is it the bank’s responsibility to make up for it.

The way it has been described, it’s basically like you got conned into giving some guy on the street your ATM card and PIN, and then they used them to steal some or all of the money in your account. The bank’s only involvement in the process was holding your money and disbursing it via a legitimate process; they didn’t give the scammer the card or the code, yet the Feds think they should be held responsible for the loss.

I guess that makes sense if you’re an unaccountable bureaucrat, but for most of us, it’s just lunacy.