HOUSTON – KPRC 2 Investigates was the first to inform you about an ongoing issue involving a Houston area woman and Zelle, the money transfer service.
Last week, KPRC 2 Investigator Bill Spencer spoke with a single mother from the Spring Branch area who lost nearly $8,000 using Zelle.
Now, we are hearing from another victim who said she also lost thousands using the app and has been unable to retrieve her money from her bank.
On Dec. 26, Cindy Little received an alert notifying her that an unknown recipient had been added to her Zelle account. She said Chase Bank notified her that someone had taken $1,000 and immediately issued her a refund.
“I got an alert on my phone that I added a recipient on Zelle that I did not add,” Cindy explained. “I said I don’t know who this person is, they’d already taken $1,000 out of my account, and Chase said, ‘Yes, this is fraud, we’ll give you the money back.’”
But, a month later, Little said she received another message stating that she had approved an unknown transaction, and over the next three days, Little’s account was continuously hacked, resulting in the loss of nearly $8,000.
Cindy filed a criminal case with the Houston Police Department and lodged complaints with the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission. However, Chase Bank rejected her claim, accusing her of orchestrating the scam herself and denying any fraud.
Now, Spencer Solves A second victim of the same rip-off has contacted it.
Jodene Danials, 70, said her Chase bank account was drained of $4,500 by cyber thieves who hacked into her Zelle account through Chase Bank.
It was the Juneteenth holiday. Within a few hours, Jodene said her bank account was drained of $4,500.
It came in the form of 32 different money transfers initiated over a three to four-hour period, likely when the scammers knew the banks would be closed and less protective.
When Jodene reported the incident to Chase Bank, instead of returning the money to her account, Chase conducted an investigation and told Jodene she was responsible for those transactions and that no fraud was found.
“They knew I did not do this. I mean, who in the world withdraws money and sends it to two specific people through a series of 32 different transfers through Zelle? I’ll tell you, nobody,” said Jodene.
Unfortunately, this is not unusual for Zelle, which is owned by seven of the nation’s largest banks.
In 2022, a congressional report issued by Senator Elizabeth Warren said that Zelle was facilitating fraud. The reports found more than 190,000 cases of fraud linked to Zelle and four different banks that offer and encourage its customers to use the transferring service. Out of the 190,000 cases, which amounted to more than $213 million, less than 10% of the customers received refunds for their lost funds.
Now, Spencer Solves It is working with Chase and Zelle to refund the women their money.
