Fast-growing scam involving mobile payment apps surfaces!

YORK, Pennsylvania (PNN) - October 28, 2021 - Mike Webb, of York County, Pennsylvania, said he was in the middle of a work meeting when he got a text that appeared to be from his bank, telling him a fraudulent charge had occurred.

"'Reply yes if you had made this charge or no,' so I immediately replied 'no,'" he said.

Webb immediately got a call from what appeared on his phone as the M&T Bank customer service number.

The man on the other end ran down a list of fraudulent charges made in Texas and Virginia that were supposedly appearing on Webb's account.

"Then he said, 'Have you also done a $2,500 Zelle transaction?'" Webb said.

When Webb said he had not used the mobile payment app, the man walked him through a complicated online process to get his $2,500 back from a bank that was supposedly holding it.

"I gave them my email address. I put my own email address in there and as soon as I put my email address in, $2,500 automatically went out of my bank account," Webb said.

Webb described the same elaborate scam that has targeted many other bank customers across the country.

The scammers seem to know almost everything about the victim, including their name, cell phone number, and bank affiliation.

"How did someone know that I'm an M&T customer and that he could text me a bank alert?" Webb said.

He went to his local bank branch right away and confirmed it was not the bank that contacted him.

Zelle's network operator, Early Warning Services, LLC, said it's working with M&T Bank on this case.

It reminds consumers that "a bank or credit union will never call to ask for sensitive information, and they would not ask a consumer to transfer funds between accounts to prevent fraud. The consumer should hang up and call their bank or credit union at the phone number listed on the back of their bank-issued card."

M&T Bank has not responded to a request for comment.

Payment apps like Zelle, Venmo and Cash App are perfect payment tools for scammers. Federal regulations require banks and credit card issuers to provide fraud protection for consumers who use debit and credit cards, but users of payment apps don't get the same fraud protection because of a loophole in the federal Electronic Funds Transfer Act.

Fortunately, Webb got his money back because he contacted his bank immediately.

Banks don't ask you to send money using these payment apps. If anyone contacts you asking you to send or receive money through a payment app, they may be trying to lure you into a scam.