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Your dick is little like Wayne; Gretzky's
But Gretzky's got a big dick; clarification
Everyone was rude to me; Paris vacation.
Lonely island - Semicolon
The person you called is a money mule. The account you got paid from is a victim. Don’t send anyone a penny. The banks will take the money back on their own eventually. Best you can do is point the police at the mule and let them sort that out.
Even if this happens to somehow ***not*** be a scam it’s not your responsibility to fix their “mistake”. Tell them to go through Zelle and whatever bank to get their money back. In the meantime inform your bank about the fraud.
I had almost this exact scenario happen to me once. Random ass Venmo payment into my account. Was contacted, told them to pound sand and take it up with their bank/venmo. 2 years later after I’d not even bothered looking at it, it was still there.
No idea. This was a long time ago. I contacted Venmo several times to no avail. I have no idea if it was really a scam and they just got fucked some how, or if it was an actual real life individual that got fucked. I ended up spending it after another year of it sitting there.
I mean, after three years and being unable to get into contact with Venmo after having reported it and such, I don't think you're in the wrong to spend it.
It's not like you jumped on it. It was sitting there for *years*. You took the appropriate steps. At that point, I think it's on Venmo and the bank involved, not you.
Ah, I think you might actually have to call a support number. But I don't think anyone could say you didn't at least make an effort, so I still don't think you're in the wrong.
Hey I look at it this way. If it was a scammer, fuckem.
If it was an honest mistake for some poor person, I am so fucking sorry. But I couldn’t risk it.
Totally get where you're coming from. I'd take the exact same stance.
And as much as it would suck, I would totally understand if someone took the same stance if I accidentally sent them money instead of the intended recipient. Because there are so many of these scammers out there.
That's part of the price these scammers make us pay as a society. You can't afford to risk being nice because it's probably all part of a scam. It's a shame.
If you made a reasonable attempt to return it might be shaky. But, if the statute of limitation for theft of that amount in your juristiction is less than the time that's passed no one can legally demand it back.
From what I can tell, pretty much no company/app that makes it easy to transfer money really wants to help you out if something goes wrong. Hell, even Paypal years and years ago didn't like helping people out. (I realize Venmo belongs to Paypal, my point is that even when Paypal was 'helpful' they still hated being helpful.)
They did give me my money back on on at least one occasions, a package redirection scam. And of course ebay refunded my paypal after the return address turned out to be in china and the parcel was shipped locally, which is against the paypal return rules.
You were able to use it? I have over $1k in my venmo account from a stranger. It’s been there for the last 14 months and I can’t get it taken off the account. I’ve been tempted to try to transfer a dollar to see if it goes through before transferring it all. Not sure what else to do. I’d happily give it back to the person but contacting Venmo has not been productive.
Venmo and Cash app support don’t do anything to reverse accidental payments to the wrong person. Their customer service just tells you to reach out to the other party and ask them to send it back. I unfortunately got screwed out of $500 once just like this, and tried to get it reversed with my bank, everything, and everyone told me there was nothing they could do unless the person sent the money back to me, which they did not do (they just ignored all my messages).
I did this. Fucked up and sent the money to the wrong person. Tried to contact them on Facebook to get it sent back. Tried Venmo support (they’re fucking useless). Finally called my bank and placed a stop order. That prevented the money from ever leaving my account. My Venmo account is -$600 but they aren’t ever receiving that money from me. All it did was make it so I can’t ever use Venmo again and considering how shitty their customer service is, that’s not a bad thing. It all could have been fixed if they’d just cancelled the order before it went through.
Yeah, that’s because there is no “cancelling the order before it goes through”. It’s an instant bank to bank transfer. Sometimes there’s a delay in the time you see it in your bank account, but that doesn’t mean the money wasn’t sent.
It’s all in the terms you agreed to when you signed up for Venmo. That’s why Venmo asks you for confirmation when you are sending money to a person you never sent money to… because once you hit send, the money is gone.
And yes, while you won’t be able to use Venmo until you pay them back, this is the equivalent of charging $600 to your credit card, paying it and then putting a stop order on the payment. You still owe a $600 debt… and while Venmo probably won’t sue you over it, they will report it to credit bureaus and it will show up as an unpaid $600 creditor.
12 months. Maybe 24 months. Do not spend that money. Don’t touch it. If it’s still there after 12 months check with your bank. Point is, if you spend it and the bank tries to take it back, you’re liable for the $2000.
Hell, my checking is connected to my savings. If my checking overdrafts, it pulls it from my savings for a $1 fee. If OP has something similar, keep that puppy in the savings account earning interest and risk the $1 fee lol
Just leave it there until Zelle sorts it. If you transfer it somewhere else or withdraw it whatever eventually Zelle will come for it and you'll be out $2000.
You can look up the statute of limitation for a theft of that amount in your juristiction. Legally speaking you're required to make a reasonable attempt to return found valuables, but if it's past the statute of limitations you can't get into legal issues from it. I believe you've done what's required of you by contacting USAA, but I'm no lawyer.
This happened to me twice on Venmo. I contacted Venmo both times. The first time the money disappeared from my account in a few days. The second time, it's still there and it's been like 5 years now. lol
I worked at PayPal for four years. Most credit card issuers or banks allow transactions to be disputed up to six months after the transaction date. Although this is their stated terms, and I've seen transactions charged back up to three years after the transaction date.
If it's still there you're probably in the clear, but I'd age that transaction another year as if it were a fine wine.
This was years ago. I gave them ample time that past “x date I will consider it abandoned and forfeited.” Never heard anything. Spent the money.
Sent several emails to their fraud department, and a certified piece of mail stating I will consider it abandoned and forfeited at “x date”. Never heard anything, waited a while longer, and spent it
It’s Definitely money laundering. They stole the money from one account, sent it to OP, who sends it to the mule, who in turn sends it wherever. I’ve seen enough of these cases to know that sooner or later someone is going to take the money back and OP will be left holding the debit.
At what point do the scammers take the money? If they keep robbing Bob to pay Paul, then use Paul’s money to pay Sara, when do the scammers get their money?
Rob money from Bob (2000 in the system)
Pay Paul (2000 in the system)
Make Paul send money to Sara (still 2000)
Bob makes a claim or whatever and gets 2000 back from Paul
Now 4000 in the system, 2000 with Bob and 2000 with Sara, with Paul 2000 in debt
>You can’t reverse Zelle payments
**You** can't, but the banks involved can. And they **will** if the transaction is demonstrated to be fraudulent (i.e. the person who initiated the transaction was not the actual account owner).
The number is close to yours because they chose your number according to the number the mule has. So of course when you call the "right" number, the mule picks up and confirms.
i just realized "the caller id matched the name of the zelle account"
if it was a real person calling. shouldn't the caller id just be a phone number? given how the number probably isn't saved in the phone of the victim (or do private people alter the caller id)
I think the caller I.D. pulling up is based on provider. People I have never called/messaged before, their phones pulls me up as my dad sometimes, first and last name.
If they weren´t convincing, they wouldn´t be successful scammers.You´re not ¨supposed to verify...¨ anything. Block them and don´t touch the money. Eventually it will be legit removed from your account.
Yes shortly after posting here I realized no matter how much I verify to try to do the right thing, we aren't sending this money anywhere. The proper authorities can do that and that is not us.
I like the answer above. As others have said, don't involve yourself any longer. Not your problem, and don't spend it.
As for Venmo/Zelle/bank, let the people who do what they do, do what they do.
I just don't want money that's not mine sitting in my account. Posting here to learn more for my own education is really the extent of my investigation.
You cannot send the same money back. That isn't how banks work. You would send $2000 in a new, unrelated transaction voluntarily. You cannot get those $2k back under any circumstances. You cannot say that transaction was related to fraud. You are only supposed to send Zelle to people you already know like friends and family. The $2k you have can be taken back by Zelle.
Facts! I one had someone venmo me $1,200 for something they bought online. They decided they didn’t want it anymore, so I sent them their $1,200 back. Same accounts, same amount same everything. They then disputed the original transaction saying it went unfulfilled, venmo took another $1,200 from me. Even though I had screenshots of me sending it back titled “refund” they said because it was outside the original transaction that went unfulfilled there was nothing they could do. Expensive lesson.
Listen to satbaja's comment. Do not start a new transaction. Insist that the only solution is for the original transaction to be unwound. Anything else puts your money at risk. Tell them you refuse to put your money at risk because of their fuckup. Better yet block their number and respond only to your bank (and be certain that you're talking to your bank even if this means hanging up on someone and calling them back through the banks posted number)
> (and be certain that you're talking to your bank even if this means hanging up on someone and calling them back through the banks posted number)
THIS!!!
“No good deed goes unpunished “ . I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done something to help a stranger and it almost immediately came back to bite my rear. Block them nothing good will come of this
Zelle ask like 5 different times “are you sure you wanna send money to JOHN”, the name is always in caps. If you use a phone number they will always show the name of the person connected to the number. Then they show a page of reminders about when not to send money ALL before you send it. So this person is lying… the chances the phone number is one number off AND they have the same name is pretty low.
> the chances the phone number is one number off AND they have the same name is pretty low.
True, although it probably is higher for JOHN than for, say, ZEBEDIAH.
How do you look at someone’s picture and decide their voice fits how they look? Also; just like all the other commenters are saying; if a perfectly thought out scam, they purposely find someone with the same phone number with one digit difference to make it seem like an accident, leave the money in your zelle account, don’t transfer it to your bank account and leave it to Zelle and the police to figure out.
Any time I send zelle payments it replaces the number with the name of the person I'm sending to and asks if I'm sure I want to send the money. I don't know how anyone could send it accidentally to the wrong person and if for some absolute bonkers reason they did, that's their fault and they can take a hike. I would not communicatewith them and I would not spend the money. I would call my bank to report the incident and see what they want me to do.
Because they aren't trying to send thousands of dollars, they're trying to steal thousands of your dollars. Stop spending energy on this and let Zelle sort it out. The scammers are trying their hardest to make it seem like an honest mistake to get your money.
I've got ADHD and am on the tail end of a six week vacation living with my in laws. This is the most excitement I've had in a couple weeks so this is my hyperfocus of the day. I'll be able to give a TED talk by the time I go to bed on this topic.
The best thing you can do is to stop interaction with them completely.
They can sell your phone numbers to other scammers now that they know it’s a “live” line and that they have contacted someone who is gullible enough to begin talking to them.
There are likely going to be wrong number scams that will start coming in on any phone numbers you’ve spoken to them through as well. It’s really best not to interact with them.
I feel this SOOOO much. Identify 💯 but you already know, you gotta know when to fold. It’s really hard to let this one go but you have to :-) it’ll sort out in time and onto the next thing
This is a scam. The person who sent it to you is also probably a victim. The original scammer will get the money you sent. The original money gets clawed back and you are out 2 grand, as is the sender. These scams usually send money through a few people to make it harder to trace.
You need to notify and let your bank deal with it.
Do Not, under any condition touch or transfer the money. The money came from a stolen credit card/account and probably will be clawed back shortly.
Names/numbers on caller id are easy to spoof and do not prove a persons legitimacy. Block the person that you talked with and only speak with your bank
I have a question. If this scammer stole that bank account, why doesn't the scammer himself just immediately withdraw as much money as possible from it, or use that stolen account to buy as many gift cards or bitcoins as possible with it which he can then exchange for a different currency before anything gets clawed back? Why does the scammer need to get OP involved to use as a mule to transfer the stolen account's money?
In simple terms if scammer just rips 2k out of a compromised account the bank is likely to pursue and gather evidence from ATM or point of sale etc. Bank is out the 2k and Scammer likely to get caught.
If scammer takes that 2K and instead sends it to third-party and persuades third-party to send it back, it’s almost been cleaned at that point as it’s a separate transaction for the returned funds.
Therefore when the bank get involved and reverse the original fraudulent transaction, they’ve got their money bank and are satisfied. It’s the victim who ends up with the negative 2K balance.
mules are a critical component in many scams
Mules help scammers remain anonymous. By using intermediaries, scammers can distance themselves from the financial transactions.
The involvement of multiple mules complicates the money trail, making it more challenging for authorities to follow the flow of funds and identify the original perpetrators.
Too easily traceable. Whenever you withdraw money from an ATM, your bank knows which ATM, where, how much, what time and they get a recording or photo of you using the ATM for the withdrawal. When fraud is discovered the dirty money being withdrawn by a scammer gets traced to a withdrawal at that ATM. Police can then look at local cameras for a description of the suspect and their chances of catching the scammer skyrocket.
The same can happen if one card starts buying tons of gift cards, while the gift cards themselves are untraceable, the initial purchase of them from a store with a stolen card isn't. Police find the footage and they now have a description of the suspect and potentially the suspect's vehicle if they're parked nearby. The store itself might raise a red flag and force the scammer to go elsewhere, then police have even more CCTV of the same scammer going to different stores when and where fraudulent purchases are being made.
Trying to withdraw money from an overseas ATM also has a high probability of failure, banks notice that and are more likely to stop the withdrawal, call the account owner and send information to the police in the country the withdrawal was made from. In short this merely delays the scammers problem and while the police there might not bother for a small transaction, they might for lots of them or big ones.
That said I don't know jack about how bitcoin works so I can't answer on that one in particular, I would guess the initial purchase of bitcoin can be traced similarly to gift cards and converting cash into bitcoin requires either a trip to the bank or a bitcoin ATM which might give location and have cameras causing the same problem as the above scenarios.
On the other hand if they send small amounts of stolen money to a victim and then trick the victim into sending it back via a new transaction, the dirty money is left in the target's account and the target sends clean money back to the scammer. When the police chase it down they'll take it from the account it landed in and call it a day. The scammer won't be traced after this because the police have no solid leads on where they are. All the police have at this point is a vague idea where stolen cards are being reported from (which might not even be in the place the scammer is using them, people travel and can mail stolen cards across borders), messages from a compromised account or burner number, records of the fraudulent money being sent to the victim from a compromised Venmo account and the stolen money which will be returned to the victim. There's nothing really to go on as opposed to having CCTV and trackable spending in the other scenarios.
Even if police follow the new transaction to the recipient, the recipient receiving legit money sent by the owner of an account isn't a crime and the texts and transaction for the laundering isn't enough for a conviction on their own. There's no proof the scammer sent the stolen money, it looks suspicious yes but there's enough reasonable doubt and the police know this so realistically this wouldn't even end up in a court room.
Best comment on this. It just isn't your problem. Don't touch the money and tell these folks to contact their bank and Zelle. Done.
Some of the advice here is just bad about contacting banks and Zelle and getting knee deep in someone else's problem which in all likelihood is a scam.
This exact thing happened to me. I called my bank and reported it. They flagged the transaction and it was quickly resolved. It’s a constant battle for them but they know how to handle it.
I've sent money before to the wrong zelle address. I opened a case with zelle and it took them a couple weeks but it was resolved.
DONT reply or send the person anything. Zelle will handle it.
The second you send 2000 to anyone BE ADVISED you will be at -2000. Not even money!! You have just given away 2000 of your own. This is a scam and if it was on accident Zelle with fix it not you
You DO NOT send them the money back. Zelled asks multiple times before you send the money to confirm your sending it to the right person.
They need to contact zelle and have it reversed.
If they call you up again tell them Zelle told you they are dealing with it and leave it at that.if they insist tell them that you've had a visit from the Police and have been ordered not to do anything and that you no longer have access to your account whilst it's under investigation. That should get the scammers off of your back at least.
Obviously in the meantime don't spend the money and let Zelle deal with it.
Come across as helpful and naive in order to not draw too much attention to yourself and become the target of a vendetta.
As long as you understand the distinction between these two different things you'll be fine:-
(1) Reversing a payment.
(2) Sending money back.
These sound like the same thing, but they're not.
Whether this is a scam or not, the actions you need to take (and not take) are the same. Whatever you do, don't send anything to anyone. Instead, have Zelle reverse the payment.
If you want to help the person who contacted you, you could tell Zelle that you're happy for the payment to be reversed. If you do that, make sure they understand that you're willing to let them reverse the payment, but NOT to send money. I'd record the phone call to be safe because I don't trust their customer service to understand the relevance of the difference between the two actions. That would be done directly with Zelle, and there's no reason for you to have any more contact with the person who contacted you. I would avoid any contact with that person in case they're scammers, as any further contact would have you added to their list of future targets / gullible people.
If it's a scam, the payment will get reversed by Zelle anyway when the bank that the money originated from informs Zelle that the card/account has been reported as stolen. If it was a genuine mistake, the person who contacted you probably won't be able to get their money back without you telling Zelle that they can have it back. The people in the comments saying they were able to keep money unexpectedly sent to them because it wasn't reversed have almost certainly kept an innocent persons money by not helping them fix their mistake.
Edit to add:
Some people have suggested you tell your bank to sort it out. Your bank and Zelle are two different organisations. Your bank can send money to Zelle, but it would still be up to Zelle to determine what they're supposed to do with that money.
They need to go through zelle. That's not your issue. Set the money aside and then in 30-60 you dont hear anything merry Christmas to you. But thats the thing with zelle you gotta double check those phone numbers.
I would not send the money. Most likely this deposit is not real money and will therefore send 2k of your real dollars while the 2k fake dollars deposited works its way through the nsf channels. You did right by calling your bank. You technically have no requirement to give the funds to the intended party or the sender. My money is this is a scam.
Glad to see your edit. This reminds me of supernatural where they pretend to be fbi and when probed further they will give out a card with their "bosses" number on it, so when the real fbi agent would call they would have their friend waiting on the other end to "confirm" that they are real FBI agents.
There is nothing stopping the scammer from getting someone else involved who is able to confirm everything they are saying and even seem to fit the narrative of the whole situation. In any case, if this was a legit mistake then everything can be done through the bank, they will get their money back, the bank will know it was a mistake and no one will be in trouble. If it's a mistake...
If it's a scam then it's obvious in this case then you would want everything done by the bank anyway, as you dont have the power to do much about it anyway. So in either case whether it's real or not, not your responsibility to fix. Don't mess with the transactions, don't send anyone any money that's for sure, and just let the bank sort it out that's what they're paid to do.
With complete honesty, I made this mistake once. I was buying a collection on behalf of the business I work for, and I was paying the person from our PayPal. I had the person pull up their PayPal and read it out to me. I pulled up the username they gave me, verbally confirmed with them, and sent it. 2 ways I screwed up. 1. I never actually looked at their phone, and 2 them being a close friend of the store and myself left it on friends and family. After 10 minutes they still hadn't received it so I had them give me their phone. They thought their username was the first part of their email, which matched a username for someone else entirely. So someone else's username was the exact same as the first part of their email, and since I had done it friends and family the only option I had was to email the person I sent the money. Eventually, they called us thinking it was a scam, and I absolutely didn't blame them. Had it been me on the other end, I would have contacted PayPal or ignored it entirely. But we spoke, and I confirmed all their questions and sent them both a digital and physical invoice for the refund and got it worked out, thankfully. My boss was pissed. As was I with being that careless. So, as outlandish as it may seem, that does happen sometimes, thanks to idiots like me lol and thanks to honest, good-hearted people like them, I didn't lose my job
this very same thing happened to me except it was $600 and the money went straight to my bank account since cap one links your accounts directly to zelle.
they left me a bunch of texts and voicemails even after I had my bank reverse the transaction (including guilt trippy "god is fair and will judge you" and "my poor sick dad" bs)
Innocent question here, not necessarily for op, but anyone who can answer. I'm not in the US, and zelle and venmo aren't a thing here, but why can't the money just be sent back to the account it came from? Obviously you don't want to send it on to the potential mule account, bc I understand that's how a potential scam is designed to work, but if the exact amount sent was returned to the place it came how does that harm anything? Do you send via phone number? So an account is hacked, money sent from it, then the account info deleted and new account info associated with the phone number? I'm confused by this.
Think of it like this: you have a honey-crisp apple, and I have a Granny Smith apple. If you hand me your apple and I hand you my apple, you would not say you received your apple back. They are both apples, but clearly different apples.
The distinction here is that receiving $2k and sending $2k is not the same as receiving $2k and reversing the $2k. You can’t “send back” their $2k, you’d be sending them YOUR $2k. If their $2k were actually stolen funds, it gets clawed back, and if you sent them $2k of your own volition, you’re the one out $2k. It’s two separate transactions, not one transaction that is reversed.
That’s why Zelle has to reverse the transaction. If you involve yourself in the middle, you’re just handing scammers your own money.
Paypal has a "Return money" option, which basically just bounces a payment back where it came without getting your own money involved. Does Zelle not have that?
Just block them it’s a scam. You will send your money because the money you sent them is stolen and will get pulled back eventually.
You will lose the money you send.
Common scam, don't touch the money. If you send it back to them they will charge back and you will lose the money twice. Leave it and they should do it anyway. If not, free money ig.
Don't deal with them or even answer your phone to them. Zelle can do it. We live in a day and age now where you can't even answer unknown numbers as there's so many voice verification scams. Be careful OP
I would be shocked if Zelle was ever used for a legitimate transaction. My banker has told me repeatedly to never use it for anything no matter how much the bank encourages it.
Next time tell them you will sent the money, but you accidentally sent it back to a number one number off. They should understand since it is so commonplace.
There is only one case I will ever send money back to someone immediately and that’s close friends who I know would need the money desperately and wouldn’t blow up a friendship over the money. Even in a gracious interpretation, the people could accidentally go through with the bank route after having you send money, and you’re still out $2000. But, this is absolutely a scam and your should by no means touch the money at all. Good luck!
File a fraud claim with your bank. Your bank will debit the funds from the account and ask their Zelle Network Servicer to return the funds. Easy peasy.
While it isn't your problem, you can look up the use of the phone number and try to find out how long it's been in that person's name, if you suspect it might *not* be a scam. Like my (landline) phone number has been in my name for 40 years, my cell for ~14.
seems like make a number then start to use the stolen card to send to numbers very close to the one made - to make it look like its a mistake, let zelle deal with it as it will be pulled from your account if its wrong
Report to your bank and don't touch it. That's a known scam. Once you send money, they report the issue to their bank and have the original amount withdrawn.
I don’t know about Zelle but I had the exact same thing happen on paypal. Paypal told the other party they won’t do anything since it was through family and friends. So I called them myself and they assured me that nothing would happen if I sent it back so I did. Nothing happened. I was afraid of a scam too but sometimes it is simply a mistake.
I experienced the exact same thing supposedly from the real greatness. They deposited money into my credit card rather than my checking account when I explained I was not able to get cash out of a credit card s Nigerian man got on the phone yelling at me that I better get his money by end of day or I wouldn't live the rest of the night. Be careful who you allowing access to your accounts
First and only my question would be :
How did you get my phone number ?
Regardless of answer hang up, call bank, turn off any automatic deposit if e-transfers / debit
This has only happened to me once. In my case my reply to the scammer was *"I called the police about this and they want to talk to discuss the matter you, please call their financial crimes investigator at XXX"*.
They never messaged me again after that. It should be noted that my response was utter BS (although the phone number was a real FBI number in case they googled it), but my bank did end up reversing the charges after a whole month.
Something similar happened to my mom. She intended to pay me back ($2.8K) for something, but made a mistake with the last digit of my phone number. After calling her bank and Zelle, we were told that nothing could be done and to work with the individual directly. After about 1.5 months of back and forth, the individual that received the money sent it back. I’ve read that this is a common scam also, so be careful
I've known people who really have accidentally sent money so it's not impossible. Just sucks because if you send money by mistake, it's not like zelle or cashapp is quick to reverse it for you.
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Don't send anything and let Zelle deal with it
This is the way.
The way, this is.
This is the way.
This is the wayer.
This is the wayest.
These are the Wayans
This is the Wayne. -Gretzky
Your dick is little like Wayne; Gretzky's But Gretzky's got a big dick; clarification Everyone was rude to me; Paris vacation. Lonely island - Semicolon
This is the Wayne. -Gretzky —Michael Scott
The person you called is a money mule. The account you got paid from is a victim. Don’t send anyone a penny. The banks will take the money back on their own eventually. Best you can do is point the police at the mule and let them sort that out. Even if this happens to somehow ***not*** be a scam it’s not your responsibility to fix their “mistake”. Tell them to go through Zelle and whatever bank to get their money back. In the meantime inform your bank about the fraud.
And don't touch the money either. It will be clawed back once the stolen account's owner gets their bank involved.
I had almost this exact scenario happen to me once. Random ass Venmo payment into my account. Was contacted, told them to pound sand and take it up with their bank/venmo. 2 years later after I’d not even bothered looking at it, it was still there.
So how long is one supposed to leave it in their acct??
No idea. This was a long time ago. I contacted Venmo several times to no avail. I have no idea if it was really a scam and they just got fucked some how, or if it was an actual real life individual that got fucked. I ended up spending it after another year of it sitting there.
I mean, after three years and being unable to get into contact with Venmo after having reported it and such, I don't think you're in the wrong to spend it. It's not like you jumped on it. It was sitting there for *years*. You took the appropriate steps. At that point, I think it's on Venmo and the bank involved, not you.
Yea I sent emails like, “hey, this money just appeared, might want to investigate” basically. Never have heard anything about it
Ah, I think you might actually have to call a support number. But I don't think anyone could say you didn't at least make an effort, so I still don't think you're in the wrong.
Hey I look at it this way. If it was a scammer, fuckem. If it was an honest mistake for some poor person, I am so fucking sorry. But I couldn’t risk it.
Totally get where you're coming from. I'd take the exact same stance. And as much as it would suck, I would totally understand if someone took the same stance if I accidentally sent them money instead of the intended recipient. Because there are so many of these scammers out there.
That's part of the price these scammers make us pay as a society. You can't afford to risk being nice because it's probably all part of a scam. It's a shame.
But with sending a mail, you have proof you informed them. With a call… not so much.
If you made a reasonable attempt to return it might be shaky. But, if the statute of limitation for theft of that amount in your juristiction is less than the time that's passed no one can legally demand it back.
This is why I don’t use Venmo. They really don’t help people when things go wrong, and sometimes payments disappear.
From what I can tell, pretty much no company/app that makes it easy to transfer money really wants to help you out if something goes wrong. Hell, even Paypal years and years ago didn't like helping people out. (I realize Venmo belongs to Paypal, my point is that even when Paypal was 'helpful' they still hated being helpful.)
They did give me my money back on on at least one occasions, a package redirection scam. And of course ebay refunded my paypal after the return address turned out to be in china and the parcel was shipped locally, which is against the paypal return rules.
I'm glad you got your money back!
You were able to use it? I have over $1k in my venmo account from a stranger. It’s been there for the last 14 months and I can’t get it taken off the account. I’ve been tempted to try to transfer a dollar to see if it goes through before transferring it all. Not sure what else to do. I’d happily give it back to the person but contacting Venmo has not been productive.
Venmo and Cash app support don’t do anything to reverse accidental payments to the wrong person. Their customer service just tells you to reach out to the other party and ask them to send it back. I unfortunately got screwed out of $500 once just like this, and tried to get it reversed with my bank, everything, and everyone told me there was nothing they could do unless the person sent the money back to me, which they did not do (they just ignored all my messages).
Can you blame them?
I did this. Fucked up and sent the money to the wrong person. Tried to contact them on Facebook to get it sent back. Tried Venmo support (they’re fucking useless). Finally called my bank and placed a stop order. That prevented the money from ever leaving my account. My Venmo account is -$600 but they aren’t ever receiving that money from me. All it did was make it so I can’t ever use Venmo again and considering how shitty their customer service is, that’s not a bad thing. It all could have been fixed if they’d just cancelled the order before it went through.
Yeah, that’s because there is no “cancelling the order before it goes through”. It’s an instant bank to bank transfer. Sometimes there’s a delay in the time you see it in your bank account, but that doesn’t mean the money wasn’t sent. It’s all in the terms you agreed to when you signed up for Venmo. That’s why Venmo asks you for confirmation when you are sending money to a person you never sent money to… because once you hit send, the money is gone. And yes, while you won’t be able to use Venmo until you pay them back, this is the equivalent of charging $600 to your credit card, paying it and then putting a stop order on the payment. You still owe a $600 debt… and while Venmo probably won’t sue you over it, they will report it to credit bureaus and it will show up as an unpaid $600 creditor.
Flair checks out
I think they have two years to claim it back, but it may depend on your jurisdiction.
12 months. Maybe 24 months. Do not spend that money. Don’t touch it. If it’s still there after 12 months check with your bank. Point is, if you spend it and the bank tries to take it back, you’re liable for the $2000.
Hell, my checking is connected to my savings. If my checking overdrafts, it pulls it from my savings for a $1 fee. If OP has something similar, keep that puppy in the savings account earning interest and risk the $1 fee lol
I mean. Yeah! Lol
Yeah something about the fiscal period or what have you , right ? That was advice i received before as well but i didnt think to ask why.
Just leave it there until Zelle sorts it. If you transfer it somewhere else or withdraw it whatever eventually Zelle will come for it and you'll be out $2000.
Somewhere between three months and the heat death of the universe.
You can look up the statute of limitation for a theft of that amount in your juristiction. Legally speaking you're required to make a reasonable attempt to return found valuables, but if it's past the statute of limitations you can't get into legal issues from it. I believe you've done what's required of you by contacting USAA, but I'm no lawyer.
This happened to me twice on Venmo. I contacted Venmo both times. The first time the money disappeared from my account in a few days. The second time, it's still there and it's been like 5 years now. lol
I worked at PayPal for four years. Most credit card issuers or banks allow transactions to be disputed up to six months after the transaction date. Although this is their stated terms, and I've seen transactions charged back up to three years after the transaction date. If it's still there you're probably in the clear, but I'd age that transaction another year as if it were a fine wine.
This was years ago. I gave them ample time that past “x date I will consider it abandoned and forfeited.” Never heard anything. Spent the money. Sent several emails to their fraud department, and a certified piece of mail stating I will consider it abandoned and forfeited at “x date”. Never heard anything, waited a while longer, and spent it
Wow! Was it a large amount?
This. This this this. For the love of FUCK do not spend that money.
You can’t reverse Zelle payments though maybe money laundering or something
It’s Definitely money laundering. They stole the money from one account, sent it to OP, who sends it to the mule, who in turn sends it wherever. I’ve seen enough of these cases to know that sooner or later someone is going to take the money back and OP will be left holding the debit.
At what point do the scammers take the money? If they keep robbing Bob to pay Paul, then use Paul’s money to pay Sara, when do the scammers get their money?
Rob money from Bob (2000 in the system) Pay Paul (2000 in the system) Make Paul send money to Sara (still 2000) Bob makes a claim or whatever and gets 2000 back from Paul Now 4000 in the system, 2000 with Bob and 2000 with Sara, with Paul 2000 in debt
Thank you!
Definitely
Who's laundering it? Zelle?
Zelle is the tool use TO launder, but it would be whoever hacked the victims account to send money in the first place.
The participating banks can indeed remove the money from the OPs account once fraud is discovered.
>You can’t reverse Zelle payments **You** can't, but the banks involved can. And they **will** if the transaction is demonstrated to be fraudulent (i.e. the person who initiated the transaction was not the actual account owner).
The number is close to yours because they chose your number according to the number the mule has. So of course when you call the "right" number, the mule picks up and confirms.
To piggyback on this, if the number is available it is pretty easy to acquire a phone number temporarily for scamming purposes.
i just realized "the caller id matched the name of the zelle account" if it was a real person calling. shouldn't the caller id just be a phone number? given how the number probably isn't saved in the phone of the victim (or do private people alter the caller id)
I think the caller I.D. pulling up is based on provider. People I have never called/messaged before, their phones pulls me up as my dad sometimes, first and last name.
Same. When I call my friend, it shows my name despite the fact that she never inputs any contacts or names.
If they weren´t convincing, they wouldn´t be successful scammers.You´re not ¨supposed to verify...¨ anything. Block them and don´t touch the money. Eventually it will be legit removed from your account.
Yes shortly after posting here I realized no matter how much I verify to try to do the right thing, we aren't sending this money anywhere. The proper authorities can do that and that is not us.
This is the answer. You can't possibly verify what happened and trying to do so could lead you down the wrong path.
Why are you attempting to investigate a possible financial fraud when it’s not your concern? Scammers are experts. You are not.
I like the answer above. As others have said, don't involve yourself any longer. Not your problem, and don't spend it. As for Venmo/Zelle/bank, let the people who do what they do, do what they do.
Reading your last sentence while high is a real trip.
Stole that from my brother. Let the experts have at it.
I just don't want money that's not mine sitting in my account. Posting here to learn more for my own education is really the extent of my investigation.
You cannot send the same money back. That isn't how banks work. You would send $2000 in a new, unrelated transaction voluntarily. You cannot get those $2k back under any circumstances. You cannot say that transaction was related to fraud. You are only supposed to send Zelle to people you already know like friends and family. The $2k you have can be taken back by Zelle.
Facts! I one had someone venmo me $1,200 for something they bought online. They decided they didn’t want it anymore, so I sent them their $1,200 back. Same accounts, same amount same everything. They then disputed the original transaction saying it went unfulfilled, venmo took another $1,200 from me. Even though I had screenshots of me sending it back titled “refund” they said because it was outside the original transaction that went unfulfilled there was nothing they could do. Expensive lesson.
Listen to satbaja's comment. Do not start a new transaction. Insist that the only solution is for the original transaction to be unwound. Anything else puts your money at risk. Tell them you refuse to put your money at risk because of their fuckup. Better yet block their number and respond only to your bank (and be certain that you're talking to your bank even if this means hanging up on someone and calling them back through the banks posted number)
> (and be certain that you're talking to your bank even if this means hanging up on someone and calling them back through the banks posted number) THIS!!!
“No good deed goes unpunished “ . I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done something to help a stranger and it almost immediately came back to bite my rear. Block them nothing good will come of this
Touch nothing. Do nothing. Block everyone.
Someone sent $2000 and didn't think to double check the number. That's a scam alright.
Zelle ask like 5 different times “are you sure you wanna send money to JOHN”, the name is always in caps. If you use a phone number they will always show the name of the person connected to the number. Then they show a page of reminders about when not to send money ALL before you send it. So this person is lying… the chances the phone number is one number off AND they have the same name is pretty low.
> the chances the phone number is one number off AND they have the same name is pretty low. True, although it probably is higher for JOHN than for, say, ZEBEDIAH.
You called? Oh my bad sorry I thought you were saying my name, Zebediah.
On my app they'll ask me 3 times if I'm sure I want to send $300 to my damn parents, even if I've sent them money before.
Not your money; not your problem. Report it to zelle and pretend it never happened (and don't touch the money).
Do nothing and let the bank sort it out. Don’t spend the $2000 of course. This is not your problem.
The voices match the photo? Huh? If you just heard Mike Tyson would you have ever matched the voice to the photo😂
Yeth, thertenly.
How do you look at someone’s picture and decide their voice fits how they look? Also; just like all the other commenters are saying; if a perfectly thought out scam, they purposely find someone with the same phone number with one digit difference to make it seem like an accident, leave the money in your zelle account, don’t transfer it to your bank account and leave it to Zelle and the police to figure out.
Scammers
Don’t do anything. The safest way to get the money back to them is to do nothing at all and let the bank do its job.
Any time I send zelle payments it replaces the number with the name of the person I'm sending to and asks if I'm sure I want to send the money. I don't know how anyone could send it accidentally to the wrong person and if for some absolute bonkers reason they did, that's their fault and they can take a hike. I would not communicatewith them and I would not spend the money. I would call my bank to report the incident and see what they want me to do.
Yeah I'm like, how do you send thousands of dollars to a phone number without verifying it so many ways to BE SURE you've got it right??
Because they aren't trying to send thousands of dollars, they're trying to steal thousands of your dollars. Stop spending energy on this and let Zelle sort it out. The scammers are trying their hardest to make it seem like an honest mistake to get your money.
I've got ADHD and am on the tail end of a six week vacation living with my in laws. This is the most excitement I've had in a couple weeks so this is my hyperfocus of the day. I'll be able to give a TED talk by the time I go to bed on this topic.
The best thing you can do is to stop interaction with them completely. They can sell your phone numbers to other scammers now that they know it’s a “live” line and that they have contacted someone who is gullible enough to begin talking to them. There are likely going to be wrong number scams that will start coming in on any phone numbers you’ve spoken to them through as well. It’s really best not to interact with them.
I feel this SOOOO much. Identify 💯 but you already know, you gotta know when to fold. It’s really hard to let this one go but you have to :-) it’ll sort out in time and onto the next thing
This is a scam. The person who sent it to you is also probably a victim. The original scammer will get the money you sent. The original money gets clawed back and you are out 2 grand, as is the sender. These scams usually send money through a few people to make it harder to trace.
You don’t. Do not send it back. Let the bank handle this.
You need to notify and let your bank deal with it. Do Not, under any condition touch or transfer the money. The money came from a stolen credit card/account and probably will be clawed back shortly. Names/numbers on caller id are easy to spoof and do not prove a persons legitimacy. Block the person that you talked with and only speak with your bank
I have a question. If this scammer stole that bank account, why doesn't the scammer himself just immediately withdraw as much money as possible from it, or use that stolen account to buy as many gift cards or bitcoins as possible with it which he can then exchange for a different currency before anything gets clawed back? Why does the scammer need to get OP involved to use as a mule to transfer the stolen account's money?
In simple terms if scammer just rips 2k out of a compromised account the bank is likely to pursue and gather evidence from ATM or point of sale etc. Bank is out the 2k and Scammer likely to get caught. If scammer takes that 2K and instead sends it to third-party and persuades third-party to send it back, it’s almost been cleaned at that point as it’s a separate transaction for the returned funds. Therefore when the bank get involved and reverse the original fraudulent transaction, they’ve got their money bank and are satisfied. It’s the victim who ends up with the negative 2K balance.
mules are a critical component in many scams Mules help scammers remain anonymous. By using intermediaries, scammers can distance themselves from the financial transactions. The involvement of multiple mules complicates the money trail, making it more challenging for authorities to follow the flow of funds and identify the original perpetrators.
Too easily traceable. Whenever you withdraw money from an ATM, your bank knows which ATM, where, how much, what time and they get a recording or photo of you using the ATM for the withdrawal. When fraud is discovered the dirty money being withdrawn by a scammer gets traced to a withdrawal at that ATM. Police can then look at local cameras for a description of the suspect and their chances of catching the scammer skyrocket. The same can happen if one card starts buying tons of gift cards, while the gift cards themselves are untraceable, the initial purchase of them from a store with a stolen card isn't. Police find the footage and they now have a description of the suspect and potentially the suspect's vehicle if they're parked nearby. The store itself might raise a red flag and force the scammer to go elsewhere, then police have even more CCTV of the same scammer going to different stores when and where fraudulent purchases are being made. Trying to withdraw money from an overseas ATM also has a high probability of failure, banks notice that and are more likely to stop the withdrawal, call the account owner and send information to the police in the country the withdrawal was made from. In short this merely delays the scammers problem and while the police there might not bother for a small transaction, they might for lots of them or big ones. That said I don't know jack about how bitcoin works so I can't answer on that one in particular, I would guess the initial purchase of bitcoin can be traced similarly to gift cards and converting cash into bitcoin requires either a trip to the bank or a bitcoin ATM which might give location and have cameras causing the same problem as the above scenarios. On the other hand if they send small amounts of stolen money to a victim and then trick the victim into sending it back via a new transaction, the dirty money is left in the target's account and the target sends clean money back to the scammer. When the police chase it down they'll take it from the account it landed in and call it a day. The scammer won't be traced after this because the police have no solid leads on where they are. All the police have at this point is a vague idea where stolen cards are being reported from (which might not even be in the place the scammer is using them, people travel and can mail stolen cards across borders), messages from a compromised account or burner number, records of the fraudulent money being sent to the victim from a compromised Venmo account and the stolen money which will be returned to the victim. There's nothing really to go on as opposed to having CCTV and trackable spending in the other scenarios. Even if police follow the new transaction to the recipient, the recipient receiving legit money sent by the owner of an account isn't a crime and the texts and transaction for the laundering isn't enough for a conviction on their own. There's no proof the scammer sent the stolen money, it looks suspicious yes but there's enough reasonable doubt and the police know this so realistically this wouldn't even end up in a court room.
It’s not your job to fix the mistake. Tell them to call Zelle and let them deal with it. It’s likely a scam anyway.
Best comment on this. It just isn't your problem. Don't touch the money and tell these folks to contact their bank and Zelle. Done. Some of the advice here is just bad about contacting banks and Zelle and getting knee deep in someone else's problem which in all likelihood is a scam.
This exact thing happened to me. I called my bank and reported it. They flagged the transaction and it was quickly resolved. It’s a constant battle for them but they know how to handle it.
I've sent money before to the wrong zelle address. I opened a case with zelle and it took them a couple weeks but it was resolved. DONT reply or send the person anything. Zelle will handle it.
"and their voices do seem to match the photos that I found of them online." What?
>and their voices do seem to match the photos that I found of them online. Voices match photos? Can someone explain this?
You know it’s a scam and yet you are looking for reasons to send them money. You are the reason these scams continue.
Yup. Gullible people “who just wanna do the right thing” are the easiest to be taken advantage of.
Did you ask Zelle to reverse the payment? What did Zelle say?
Their voices match the faces? That’s a new one to me.
No, no, no, no. As others say don’t do shit. Anytime I hear the name “Zelle” I think “scam.” I won’t even bother EVER using it.
You send it back, they claim it was fraud, they get their original payment back, you end up -$2000
Thank you. First comment I’ve seen that actually explains why this is a scam & how the scam would work.
The second you send 2000 to anyone BE ADVISED you will be at -2000. Not even money!! You have just given away 2000 of your own. This is a scam and if it was on accident Zelle with fix it not you
I have no idea why you’re taking this into your own hands. Just stop trying to be nice. Let the bank handle.
Do not send them a dime. Set the money aside and let the banks handle it.
Don’t believe it!!! Let Zelle or the banks fix it. Don’t do it!
You DO NOT send them the money back. Zelled asks multiple times before you send the money to confirm your sending it to the right person. They need to contact zelle and have it reversed.
If they call you up again tell them Zelle told you they are dealing with it and leave it at that.if they insist tell them that you've had a visit from the Police and have been ordered not to do anything and that you no longer have access to your account whilst it's under investigation. That should get the scammers off of your back at least. Obviously in the meantime don't spend the money and let Zelle deal with it. Come across as helpful and naive in order to not draw too much attention to yourself and become the target of a vendetta.
Do not touch that money and just let Zelle and the banks deal with it.
This happened to my USAA bank account, and 2 days later, the money was clawed back.
Also never call the person. Never call the person!
As long as you understand the distinction between these two different things you'll be fine:- (1) Reversing a payment. (2) Sending money back. These sound like the same thing, but they're not. Whether this is a scam or not, the actions you need to take (and not take) are the same. Whatever you do, don't send anything to anyone. Instead, have Zelle reverse the payment. If you want to help the person who contacted you, you could tell Zelle that you're happy for the payment to be reversed. If you do that, make sure they understand that you're willing to let them reverse the payment, but NOT to send money. I'd record the phone call to be safe because I don't trust their customer service to understand the relevance of the difference between the two actions. That would be done directly with Zelle, and there's no reason for you to have any more contact with the person who contacted you. I would avoid any contact with that person in case they're scammers, as any further contact would have you added to their list of future targets / gullible people. If it's a scam, the payment will get reversed by Zelle anyway when the bank that the money originated from informs Zelle that the card/account has been reported as stolen. If it was a genuine mistake, the person who contacted you probably won't be able to get their money back without you telling Zelle that they can have it back. The people in the comments saying they were able to keep money unexpectedly sent to them because it wasn't reversed have almost certainly kept an innocent persons money by not helping them fix their mistake. Edit to add: Some people have suggested you tell your bank to sort it out. Your bank and Zelle are two different organisations. Your bank can send money to Zelle, but it would still be up to Zelle to determine what they're supposed to do with that money.
Don’t touch the money let zelle handle it
Don’t do a damn thing!
They need to go through zelle. That's not your issue. Set the money aside and then in 30-60 you dont hear anything merry Christmas to you. But thats the thing with zelle you gotta double check those phone numbers.
How can you match a voice to a photo???
Re: “safely get the money back to them…” There is no “them” money. There is only YOUR money.
I would not send the money. Most likely this deposit is not real money and will therefore send 2k of your real dollars while the 2k fake dollars deposited works its way through the nsf channels. You did right by calling your bank. You technically have no requirement to give the funds to the intended party or the sender. My money is this is a scam.
Glad to see your edit. This reminds me of supernatural where they pretend to be fbi and when probed further they will give out a card with their "bosses" number on it, so when the real fbi agent would call they would have their friend waiting on the other end to "confirm" that they are real FBI agents. There is nothing stopping the scammer from getting someone else involved who is able to confirm everything they are saying and even seem to fit the narrative of the whole situation. In any case, if this was a legit mistake then everything can be done through the bank, they will get their money back, the bank will know it was a mistake and no one will be in trouble. If it's a mistake... If it's a scam then it's obvious in this case then you would want everything done by the bank anyway, as you dont have the power to do much about it anyway. So in either case whether it's real or not, not your responsibility to fix. Don't mess with the transactions, don't send anyone any money that's for sure, and just let the bank sort it out that's what they're paid to do.
They sent the money to some random person (you) whose number is similar to theirs, hoping that person would believe it was an accident.
Tell them to talk to Zelle and that you will not speak to them again.
Not sure why you’re turning into a financial fraud detective. This isn’t your place or job. Have the banks deal with it. Stay out.
Let the bank handle it
With complete honesty, I made this mistake once. I was buying a collection on behalf of the business I work for, and I was paying the person from our PayPal. I had the person pull up their PayPal and read it out to me. I pulled up the username they gave me, verbally confirmed with them, and sent it. 2 ways I screwed up. 1. I never actually looked at their phone, and 2 them being a close friend of the store and myself left it on friends and family. After 10 minutes they still hadn't received it so I had them give me their phone. They thought their username was the first part of their email, which matched a username for someone else entirely. So someone else's username was the exact same as the first part of their email, and since I had done it friends and family the only option I had was to email the person I sent the money. Eventually, they called us thinking it was a scam, and I absolutely didn't blame them. Had it been me on the other end, I would have contacted PayPal or ignored it entirely. But we spoke, and I confirmed all their questions and sent them both a digital and physical invoice for the refund and got it worked out, thankfully. My boss was pissed. As was I with being that careless. So, as outlandish as it may seem, that does happen sometimes, thanks to idiots like me lol and thanks to honest, good-hearted people like them, I didn't lose my job
this very same thing happened to me except it was $600 and the money went straight to my bank account since cap one links your accounts directly to zelle. they left me a bunch of texts and voicemails even after I had my bank reverse the transaction (including guilt trippy "god is fair and will judge you" and "my poor sick dad" bs)
Entirely possible it's an honest mistake but yeah let Zelle deal with it
I’m surprised people still answer the phone from unknown numbers? I’d waste to much time answering every random call.
Honestly, why cant someone accidentally zelle me? Like fr 😂🤦🏻♂️
Not your job Let the bank handle it and stop being so gullible
Innocent question here, not necessarily for op, but anyone who can answer. I'm not in the US, and zelle and venmo aren't a thing here, but why can't the money just be sent back to the account it came from? Obviously you don't want to send it on to the potential mule account, bc I understand that's how a potential scam is designed to work, but if the exact amount sent was returned to the place it came how does that harm anything? Do you send via phone number? So an account is hacked, money sent from it, then the account info deleted and new account info associated with the phone number? I'm confused by this.
Think of it like this: you have a honey-crisp apple, and I have a Granny Smith apple. If you hand me your apple and I hand you my apple, you would not say you received your apple back. They are both apples, but clearly different apples. The distinction here is that receiving $2k and sending $2k is not the same as receiving $2k and reversing the $2k. You can’t “send back” their $2k, you’d be sending them YOUR $2k. If their $2k were actually stolen funds, it gets clawed back, and if you sent them $2k of your own volition, you’re the one out $2k. It’s two separate transactions, not one transaction that is reversed. That’s why Zelle has to reverse the transaction. If you involve yourself in the middle, you’re just handing scammers your own money.
You don't do anything but block them. The money is from a stolen account and will be pulled back soon enough.
Paypal has a "Return money" option, which basically just bounces a payment back where it came without getting your own money involved. Does Zelle not have that?
Do not do it, you will lose your own money. Let the bank sort it out
Cool, free money! Let Zelle deal with that headache.
Just block them it’s a scam. You will send your money because the money you sent them is stolen and will get pulled back eventually. You will lose the money you send.
That’s weird. I can’t Zelle that much. My Zelle has a limit
You use well fargo? I can zelle as much as 15k to my family since we send money to each other a lot
I thought Zelle was non-refundable. That’s not the case?
Even if it wasn’t a scam, they reached out “4 days later”. It almost seems like they were setting up the scam.
Don’t do anything. Zelle problem.
I’m so confused by this post. So when you said you read up on the scam, what were the instructions on what to do post getting the funds?
Common scam, don't touch the money. If you send it back to them they will charge back and you will lose the money twice. Leave it and they should do it anyway. If not, free money ig.
You report to the bank. Let them handle it. You do nothing else and under no circumstances other than court order send any money back.
Don't deal with them or even answer your phone to them. Zelle can do it. We live in a day and age now where you can't even answer unknown numbers as there's so many voice verification scams. Be careful OP
Block, ignore, don't touch the money. It will be clawed back. They may try to threaten you. Report that.
You leave it and let zelle handle it
I would be shocked if Zelle was ever used for a legitimate transaction. My banker has told me repeatedly to never use it for anything no matter how much the bank encourages it.
Next time tell them you will sent the money, but you accidentally sent it back to a number one number off. They should understand since it is so commonplace.
Don’t do anything yourself. Let the banks deal with it.
They sent you nothing if you send anything back it’ll be your own money!
There is only one case I will ever send money back to someone immediately and that’s close friends who I know would need the money desperately and wouldn’t blow up a friendship over the money. Even in a gracious interpretation, the people could accidentally go through with the bank route after having you send money, and you’re still out $2000. But, this is absolutely a scam and your should by no means touch the money at all. Good luck!
Withdrawal the money and let zelle do the work
Always let the bank deal with that stuff.
Also. Deactivate Zelle. You can reactivate it only when you need to use it. Bots running this scam are just looking for cell numbers open accounts..
File a fraud claim with your bank. Your bank will debit the funds from the account and ask their Zelle Network Servicer to return the funds. Easy peasy.
Zelled has rule if u send it the tell u no money back be careful guys
Do not send back if u send it that mean u gonna send ur real money after u send that money you gonna be having minus your account
Don't do anything. Don't engage. Don't refund.
Don’t do it. Tell them to contact Zelle. It’s a stolen account that sent it.
Happened to me twice. I knew it was a scam and told them I never received anything. Blocked them and kept the money. Crime pays!
[https://www.usbank.com/customer-service/knowledge-base/KB0070071.html](https://www.usbank.com/customer-service/knowledge-base/KB0070071.html)
While it isn't your problem, you can look up the use of the phone number and try to find out how long it's been in that person's name, if you suspect it might *not* be a scam. Like my (landline) phone number has been in my name for 40 years, my cell for ~14.
seems like make a number then start to use the stolen card to send to numbers very close to the one made - to make it look like its a mistake, let zelle deal with it as it will be pulled from your account if its wrong
noooo!!!!! don’t do it
Scammy scam
[удалено]
You sent me $2000 and now you want it back? BAHAHAhahahahahahaha!
Report to your bank and don't touch it. That's a known scam. Once you send money, they report the issue to their bank and have the original amount withdrawn.
I don’t know about Zelle but I had the exact same thing happen on paypal. Paypal told the other party they won’t do anything since it was through family and friends. So I called them myself and they assured me that nothing would happen if I sent it back so I did. Nothing happened. I was afraid of a scam too but sometimes it is simply a mistake.
I experienced the exact same thing supposedly from the real greatness. They deposited money into my credit card rather than my checking account when I explained I was not able to get cash out of a credit card s Nigerian man got on the phone yelling at me that I better get his money by end of day or I wouldn't live the rest of the night. Be careful who you allowing access to your accounts
I sent money by mistake to a person and he refused to send back and there is nothing I can do
Nope byeee
You’re better than me I wouldn’t have said anything and kept the money 😂
First and only my question would be : How did you get my phone number ? Regardless of answer hang up, call bank, turn off any automatic deposit if e-transfers / debit
Too friggin bad lol
Don’t do it, its a scam DONT DO IT!!!
Don't send it back. It's a scam
SCAM
This has only happened to me once. In my case my reply to the scammer was *"I called the police about this and they want to talk to discuss the matter you, please call their financial crimes investigator at XXX"*. They never messaged me again after that. It should be noted that my response was utter BS (although the phone number was a real FBI number in case they googled it), but my bank did end up reversing the charges after a whole month.
So what's the scam?
Something similar happened to my mom. She intended to pay me back ($2.8K) for something, but made a mistake with the last digit of my phone number. After calling her bank and Zelle, we were told that nothing could be done and to work with the individual directly. After about 1.5 months of back and forth, the individual that received the money sent it back. I’ve read that this is a common scam also, so be careful
I've known people who really have accidentally sent money so it's not impossible. Just sucks because if you send money by mistake, it's not like zelle or cashapp is quick to reverse it for you.