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Police warn of scams involving payment applications

Posted By: VenangoExtra.com December 15, 2021

From staff reports

Pennsylvania State Police are warning residents to be vigilant about scams involving peer-to-peer payment applications (apps) like Zelle, Venmo, and Cashapp.

A news release from police warns of a scam specifically involving Zelle, a service offered by many financial institutions through the institution’s mobile app that allows people to send money to customers of other banks.

In that scam, the fraudster sends a text message claiming to be from a bank’s fraud department, stating the recipient had a suspicious payment through Zelle and asks the victim to verify the transfer, the release said.

If the person responds to the text, the fraudster calls them claiming to be from the bank’s fraud department and asks for their username to “verify their identity” as well as ask for additional information, including notifying the victim that they will be receiving a one-time code to their phone and a possible notification from Zelle about a transfer that has either just occurred or has occurred in the past, the release said.

These notifications are legitimately from the bank and from Zelle, but the fraudster knows about them, will tell the person to expect them, and will ask the victim for the information to “verify” it, the release said.

What the fraudster is actually doing is walking the person through the process to reset their account password, according to the release.

Once the password has been reset, the fraudster can empty the person’s bank account in a matter of minutes, the release said.

Police recommend people become familiar with their peer-to-peer payment app’s policies related to fraud protection, learn how to use their institution’s mobile app, and disable features they do not intend to use.

The release also recommends learning to recognize a financial institution’s fraud notifications and what a person should do if they receive one.

Reading text messages closely and ignoring those from institutions where one doesn’t have accounts or that do not make sense are police recommendations to avoid fraud.

If a person receives a telephone call from someone claiming to be from their financial institution, police recommend hanging up and calling back at a phone number that is valid. A valid number for financial institutions can be found online or in their mobile app.

Login information, such as usernames, passwords, and any one-time codes or other authentication information, is confidential and should not be shared with anyone, including anyone from a financial institution. No one from a financial institution will ask for login information,” the release said.

Police said people who fall for scams should report them to their local police department.

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