Scammers are gaming Google, to get your money. They are posing as customer service for major money-sharing apps.
“I assure you — if you had seen it, you would believe it,” Fayetteville resident Rebecca Mack said.
Mack was trying to sell a doll house on an online marketplace, when she had trouble processing a Zelle payment. So, she searched online for customer service.
“This big ad came up. First thing that was there, said Zelle customer service,” Mack said.
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But instead of a Zelle employee, it was a scammer on the other end of the line who had gamed Google with their fake webpage. They then gained access to not just Mack’s Zelle account, but her too.
Mack said more than $300 was taken from her Zelle account, and another $650 from her Cash App.
“It’s devastating to have that much money taken away at this point in our lives,” she told Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray.
Back in 2020, Gray reported in a Channel 2 Action News investigation about something similar happening to a series of customers who had called a fake Cash App customer service number that they found on Google.
“You’re thinking at the time, why would I do something so stupid? But I did,” Steven Wynn told Gray.
On its website, Cash App warns about precisely this scheme: “Fraudsters often attempt to steal customer data and gain access to accounts by pretending to be a Cash App customer service representative.”
In Mack’s case, her bank — Delta Community Credit Union — refunded the stolen Zelle money.
But Cash App closed the case without refunding her.
Her son had just put $1,300 in her account, so that she could repair her car.
“I’m scared to use my bank account now, I’m scared to put any money in it,” Mack said.
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Just last week, Channel 2 Action News reported that a congressional investigation found how hard it is to get money back after these money-sharing scams.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office’s recent investigation of Zelle fraud data provided by banks, indicates that banks only paid back 10% of Zelle fraud claims.
“It’s very scary and it’s very frustrating, and I guess one of the greatest emotions I have is it made me mad, it made me really mad,” Mack said.
We reached out to Zelle, which did not respond to a request for comment about Mack’s case.
Mack has reported the fraud to the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Elder Fraud Hotline.
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