Beware! A new scam technique has been used on Bank of America customers. The bank has been using the popular app Zelle to help customers transfer money to each other, much like the app Venmo. Problem is now scammers are using it to trick people into Zelling them money. A school nurse in the Bay Area was a recent target. Here is what she went through so you can be proactive and make sure you aren't being scammed!

Page Pollack is a school nurse in the San Carlos district. She has been responsible as the only school nurse for 8 schools. Especially during the pandemic, you can imagine how stressful her job has been. She was scammed out of 3,500 dollars.

She saw a text with the caller id saying "Bank of America" so she thought it was legit. She received a text saying "Bank of America fraud alert. Did you just attempt a Zelle transaction of $3,500? Please reply yes or no."Bank of America fraud alert. Did you just attempt a Zelle transaction of $3,500? Please reply yes or no.Bank of America fraud alert. Did you just attempt a Zelle transaction of $3,500? Please reply yes or no She replied no and then was called by the scammer. She said the guy was super friendly and told her they needed her to open the mobile app to get her money back. She was then placed on hold for a long time and had to eventually hang up to get on a flight. She knew something was weird about the call and when she landed she found her money missing.

She tried to appeal to Bank of America. They recommended she just ask for her money back, not addressing it was fraud. It wasn't until ABC 7 told Bank of America it was a fraud before they took her seriously. But once she got a call from the bank and saw the caller id she thought "I'm not falling for that again". Luckily the real Bank did eventually get through to her and she got her money back.

The bank is warning people that they are not calling to stop a fraud by having you open Zelle. Even if the fraud alert was from Zelle. So if you get a call from your bank(caller id and all) and they ask you to open Zelle, DON'T DO IT!!!

Gabby Diaz

About Gabby Diaz