Cash apps are the new thing to buy and sell with because hardly anyone carries cash on them anymore. First, it was Paypal, then Cash App, then Venmo, and now Zelle, which works directly with my bank. These things are supposed to be safe right?  I have heard of scams with Cash App and Venmo but not Zelle, like I said it's run through a major bank.

Sunday I posted some furniture for sale on Facebook, as everyone else does and I have done before. I received a message from a woman stating that she wanted to purchase the furniture and I told her I would need at least half down to hold it, I could send her my Venmo information, she said she would rather use Zelle to protect the purchase incase I was trying to scam her. I thought ok, Wells Fargo will take care of me if anything happens.

She text back and said she had sent the payment for me to check my email, which I thought was weird because I usually will get a text when someone has transferred money to me.  So I check my email, which looked to be from Zelle saying the woman had paid me too much and that she needed to pay more to validate my account. She said she would agree to pay the amount if I sent it right back to her, and of course, honest Abe over here, told her exactly who I was and she could verify that I was trustworthy.

She kept hounding me to send the money back to her and I kept telling her Zelle was not recognizing her information, so she gave me a different name and email, which I thought was weird too, but I was so excited to sell my furniture. Another thing I thought was sketchy is I couldn't look up her profile.  In the midst of me trying to do all of this my bank calls me and asks me what I am doing, and they noticed suspicious activity on my account. I explain what was happening and they informed me it was fraudulent. So I quickly tell the person on FB, that they have been busted and that the bank canceled the transaction because it was fraudulent.  The person still keeps trying to get me to redo the transaction. I finally told them to leave me alone and they did. But look at the pics closely to see how they faked emails from Zelle, that had me believing it was for real.

Below is how they almost got me.  Pay close attention to the email addresses. Had I done that, it might have not gone as far as it did. Thank goodness for my bank for looking out for me and catching it.

Gwendolyn McCown
Gwendolyn McCown
loading...
Gwendolyn McCown
Gwendolyn McCown
loading...
Gwendolyn McCown
Gwendolyn McCown
loading...
Gwendolyn McCown
Gwendolyn McCown
loading...

LOOK: Here are 25 ways you could start saving money today

These money-saving tips—from finding discounts to simple changes to your daily habits—can come in handy whether you have a specific savings goal, want to stash away cash for retirement, or just want to pinch pennies. It’s never too late to be more financially savvy. Read on to learn more about how you can start saving now. [From: 25 ways you could be saving money today]

 

More From Lonestar 92.3