Man Dodges Facebook Marketplace Scam, Falls for Zelle Scam

A Baltimore man looking to offload some used furniture was able to avoid falling victim to a scam over Facebook Marketplace, but then quickly fell for a Zelle scammer who swiped thousands of dollars from his bank account.

Jake Larkin told WMAR he just closed on his new home when he decided to try to sell the furniture left behind by the previous owner through Facebook's popular online market.

A prospective buyer immediately reached out to him, offering $100.

“Then I got an email through Zelle [the online money-transfer service owned by seven of the country's biggest banks] saying that in order for me to get the $100 in my account, I had to ask the [buyer] for $200 more, and then give them the $200 back and the remaining $100 would be in my account,” Larkin told the station.

The email appeared to come from "zelle pay," Larkin said. He was told the extra cash was necessary because Larkin needed to upgrade to a business account for the transaction, the email said.

“I thought that was very odd," Larkin said.

He then googled Zelle customer service and clicked on one of the first options, listed as “Zelle Customer Service 24/7 Support Available Contact Us Today," WMAR reported.

“He just basically agreed with me, you know, said it's a common problem and that happens all the time. And he said, this is what we have to do to resolve it, and just kept guiding me through steps trying to confuse me," Larkin told the outlet. "And he did, he just really confused me."

When Larkin got off the phone, that's when he realized something was wrong.

“By the time I got off the phone with them and logged into my account that's when I noticed my account was almost empty and I just started freaking out," he said. "That's when I called Bank of America.”

The supposed customer support website was not Zelle's official help center.

When a reporter from WMAR called the phone number listed on the website, the person who answered claimed to be from Zelle customer service, but quickly hung up when the reporter identified herself.

Angie Barnett, president and CEO of the Better Business of Bureau of Greater Maryland, told WMAR the organization has seen an increase in the number of reported scams on Facebook Marketplace.

“We always ask ourselves, why are Facebook accounts hacked? Why does that happen? And this is a great example. I would be willing to bet the legitimate person who has that account, their Facebook page was hacked, and the scammer is now using that hacked profile to establish that legitimacy,” Barnett told the outlet.

Larkin said he "should have trusted my gut, and I didn't."

"I just trusted these people too much," he said. "And the thing is, you get 100 scam calls a day on your phone, and you just kind of blow it off, but the thing is, is that I reached out to them. I researched their number, and I reached out to them. So just that fact alone, I was very trusting of them."

Still, Larkin was able to have his stolen cash refunded by Bank of America.

In a statement to WMAR, a spokesperson for Early Warning Services, LLC, Zelle’s parent company, said it "continually monitor[s] impersonator websites, including fake customer service numbers, and will take appropriate action.

"We encourage your viewers and all consumers to always refer to the official website of the organizations they are trying to connect with and contact the organization through the information listed on their official website."