Online Threat Alerts (OTA) - Alerting you to scams and frauds.

Facebook Marketplace Scam - Upgrade to Receive Payment
Facebook Marketplace Scam - Upgrade to Receive Payment

Scammers or cybercriminals are contacting potential victims in the Facebook Marketplace asking them to buy their products. The scammers will claim they only use Zelle and instead of using the Zelle app, the scammers will send potential victims Zelle email scams like the ones below regarding payment and account upgrades from fake Zelle email accounts.

Facebook Marketplace Scam Emails

Zelle Email Transaction Scam

Zelle Email Upgrade Scam

How to Determine if Someone is Attempting to Scam You

  • scammers will claim they only use Zelle for payment
  • you receive Zelle transaction information via email only, not via the Zelle app, and the Zelle app shows absolutely NO transactions
  • the email is sent from an AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or from other none official Zelle email addresses
  • email claim you need to send an extra money so your Zelle app will be upgraded to a business account. Payment apps like Zelle do NOT ask buyers to upgrade account in order to receive payments.
  • you are asked to send money with the promise of a refund.

Sellers on Facebook Marketplace should pay attention to details if they are asked to use Zelle or other payment apps or platforms, so they are not scammed out of their hardearned money.

If you have been a victim of the Zelle Business Account scam or someone attempted to scam you, please share your experince in a comment below to help inform others.

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