Online Threat Alerts (OTA) - Alerting you to scams and frauds.
Scamming - Fraud
Online scammers 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.
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.
1
This just happened to me. I was selling an item on Facebook. Buyer wanted to pay me through Zelle. (I have it through my bank). I received an email saying I had to upgrade to a business account. I told the buyer I wasn't going to do that and he started threatening me. Said he reported me to Zelle and then sent a picture of a badge and said he was a cop and he would arrest me. He said they already took the money out and I needed to send it back. I did not because I didn't receive anything. I then get an email this morning from this fake zelle email saying that they called the FBI and were contacting my local police. I did not respond. The lengths that people will go to is crazy.
