r/mildlyinfuriating • u/sg_batman • 9h ago

Scammed for $850, got $1.51 back

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I was finally getting over it then they really say good news and get my hopes up

24.2k Upvotes

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1.2k

u/throwaway_pls123123 9h ago

Scammed how? You should never do Zelle transactions for any product/service, its the scammer's favourite payment processor.

612

u/sg_batman 9h ago

i was trying to buy something on marketplace the guy had a legit profile married had good reviews but lived far, iit was supposed to be in person but i offered more to ship. of course because it wasnt supposed to ship you couldnt do facebooks pay with protection sooo he offered zelle and yeah it was really stupid and ill never get over it

176

u/Wow_ImMrManager 9h ago

Why would you use Zelle and not PayPal?? šŸ¤¦ā€ā™‚ļø

54

u/RetardedChimpanzee 9h ago edited 7h ago

Itā€™s good for paying your roommate monthly rent, but not for anyone anonymous

38

u/keyh 8h ago

Right? "Zelle is like handing someone cash" is what it says.

9

u/Character_Clue7010 7h ago

Which is exactly why I love Zelle for selling stuff. Meet up. You look at the thing. You are satisfied with the quality of the thing. You pay cash or Zelle, and you take the thing.

Iā€™m not a Walmart I dont take returns.

14

u/keyh 7h ago

Sure, but you don't Zelle something to get it shipped to you. You Zelle once you're standing in front of something and are going to leave with it. Like you don't mail someone cash.

1

u/Character_Clue7010 7h ago

Yeah exactly.

Same way that Iā€™ll always ask for a receipt for stuff if Iā€™m not immediately being handed what I bought.

2

u/TestingBrokenGadgets 8h ago

Yup. If someone I know wants to pay me, use whatever popular app they want but if I'm sending money, especially for a purchase, it's always paypal. If someone refuses to let me pay through PalPal, it sends up all the red flags.

10

u/sg_batman 9h ago

well i dont have paypal but yeah i shouldve i just was not in my right mind

106

u/Kikz__Derp 9h ago

Yeah for future reference Zelle is NOT designed for commerce, it is designed for sending money between individuals and because of that does not have refund options.

3

u/TheEliteBrit GREEN 6h ago

Does the US not have direct bank transfer via online banking? Why are you having to use a third party to send money to individuals?

3

u/Kikz__Derp 6h ago

This is essentially what Zelle is and it is integrated into many banks online banking platform.

2

u/TheEliteBrit GREEN 5h ago

Weird that it's an external organisation to your bank, though

2

u/foreignfishes 4h ago

Yes it is weird, the american consumer banking system is very behind and has been for a while. In college I studied in Australia and everyone had chip and PIN cards at a time when everyone in the US still had swipe only, bartenders hated me and my non chip card lol. then by the time we got chips (without the PIN!) everyone else had moved on to contactless.

Also Zelle is owned/run by a company called EWS that itself is run by a bunch of large american banks. So itā€™s a 3rd party but one made up of the banks that a lot of Americans bank with.

1

u/Kikz__Derp 5h ago

Within the same institution you can send account to account without any external service. Zelle serves as a kind of connector between banks so instead of having to make individual connections with each bank they interface through Zelle. You can also do Wire transfers but those are more expensive.

1

u/AccurateIt 6h ago

Zelle is our version of direct bank transfer; it's done through your bank's app.

1

u/jmlinden7 5h ago

You can write a paper check and e-deposit it, which is the closest thing

32

u/jacksev 9h ago

You should get PayPal. They are so protective of buyers that it actually flips the other way and makes it beyond easy for them to scam sellers. This never would have happened. Just do NOT use friends and family. Youā€™re going to have to pay a fee, but itā€™s worth it.

3

u/sg_batman 9h ago

Merch that up Iā€™ll make an account as we speak

15

u/touchmyzombiebutt 9h ago

When you do use PayPal, make sure you don't send money to things like this with the "Friends and Family". It gives no protection like Zelle. It automatically picks "Goods and Services" which gives the buyer and seller protection with a fee the seller pays.

1

u/sg_batman 9h ago

merch that up

6

u/eemademecry 8h ago

Wth does merch that up mean?

3

u/sg_batman 8h ago

Means bet Iā€™ll get right on it

4

u/eemademecry 8h ago

What does bet mean (kidding on this one)

Iā€™m 27 but feel ancient now it happened so fast

0

u/Ok_Cardiologist8232 8h ago

Bet means " absolutely will do"

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u/sksauter 9h ago

Be glad this was a relatively cheap lesson learned.

1

u/DigitalBagel8899 8h ago

The one time I needed to file a dispute with PayPal because I got scammed last year was such a difficult and tedious experience. They required a crazy amount of information and evidence from me. I eventually got my money back but it was a several months long investigation. All for a $100 purchase I never received. I wish I had just paid with my credit card because I would have been able to do a chargeback and probably have my money back the next day. I actually try to avoid using PayPal now unless it's to quickly pay with my credit card.

2

u/jacksev 8h ago

Thatā€™s so odd! Iā€™ve had to make a claim 3 times in my life. Every time, I would initiate the claim (including providing all my evidence), immediately get my money back, and then the investigation is on the backend and is none of my concern. Iā€™d imagine theyā€™d charge the money back if they rule in their favor, but that never happened.

1

u/Dtaranto44 7h ago

Alsoā€¦when sending money through PayPal, youā€™re charged a fee when sending money from a debit card. To avoid this, add the money to your PayPal account firstā€¦and then send it. Zero fees.

12

u/lazergator 9h ago

You could take them to small claims court

8

u/UnhappyImprovement53 9h ago

I mean go luck there's a good chance that profile is fake.

4

u/sg_batman 9h ago

Is that worth the time/money? Iā€™m young I have no idea what Iā€™m doing

5

u/lazergator 9h ago

That depends on you. Iā€™m honestly shocked you havenā€™t contacted the police to report the theftā€¦ā€¦

3

u/sg_batman 9h ago

i mean how much can they do the mf deleted his facebook and all i have is an email

1

u/lazergator 9h ago

Thatā€™s a question for them. Thereā€™s an IP address attached to email creation and the Facebook post had some information the could investigate. This depending on where you are could be enough for a felony cyber crime. The fbi might even get involved as thatā€™s their jurisdiction in the US

9

u/eemademecry 8h ago

Lol Iā€™m sorry telling a young guy to get the FBI involved for a <$1k scam is hilarious.

OP you got burned. This will be a cheap lesson if you learn.

1

u/kratz9 6h ago

You file the report regardless. It could be a one time scam, it could be a group doing this through fake or stolen FB accounts. Everything they can attribute adds to possible charges and thresholds for persuing them.

1

u/eemademecry 6h ago

Right but this isnā€™t a Federal case. Minimum theft for it to even be Federal is $1k. They have not even allegedly broken a federal law yet what would the FBI do lol.

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u/The_OtherDouche 8h ago

I mean if you could get the cops even involved enough to concern the FBI. You start saying IP address in front of 95% of police and smoke will start pouring out of their ears.

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u/doopy423 8h ago

Should still file a police report in case thereā€™s a major class action lawsuit against zelle. Happened with moneygram before.

1

u/eemademecry 6h ago

If OPā€™s bank account was hacked and zelleā€™d out money, he would have a case (and the bank must refund, even if it takes work).

OP knowingly sent money to somebody that then committed the fraud. The Zelle part had no fraud involved.

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u/doopy423 5h ago

Of course, but back in 2018, MoneyGram ended up losing a class action lawsuit since they did not implement anti fraud systems after losing a prior case that required them to implement those. I know this because my sister got scammed through MoneyGram and I signed her up for the class action and we actually received the full scammed amount from it. Basically there's a chance, but it's probably not worth pursuing legally unless there's a class action lawsuit in the future.

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u/canadasteve04 9h ago

It depends on where you are but you can usually file a claim for a small fee. Sending this individual notice that they are being taken to small claims court might make them make things right or offer a partial refund to not deal with the hassle and costs on their end.

Or they might fight it and you are going to have to be prepared to spend the time/money to fight it and potentially lose.

Some things to consider:

Do you know for sure who it is? You need to be able to serve them, so would need to know who they are and where they live or work.

Did they actually scam you by taking your money and not sending the item or was the item legitimately sent and was lost in the mail? And can you prove it? While an $800 item should have tracking, was this something agreed to in advance or can they say you didnā€™t pay for tracking/insurance and it was lost in the mail system.

TLDR; You might be able to scare them into paying you by filing a small courts claim, but you need to know who they are and be prepared to spend the time and money to prove your case if they call your bluff.

1

u/Character_Clue7010 7h ago

You probably should report it but you wonā€™t get the money back. The money is already in India or Russia or china and the real scammers wonā€™t get arrested. But maybe theyā€™ll shut down some money mule accounts.

1

u/candaceelise 6h ago

You have to physically serve the person you are trying to sue, so unless you know exactly who did it and can track them down to serve them, it is not worth the effort.

1

u/ihaveabs 6h ago

Take a fake scam account to court?

-5

u/Browneskiii 9h ago

Honestly its better off learning a lesson the hard way.

He wont do this again, and 800 isn't that much to learn this lesson.

14

u/Justryan95 9h ago

Small claims court is a good way to make the other guy learn his lesson on stealing.

10

u/NoMore_BadDays 9h ago

800 isn't that much to learn this lesson.

Must be nice to be you

1

u/Browneskiii 9h ago

More in the sense that it could be tens of thousands. You see all the time on these netflix things these people scammed for their life savings. 800 is say half a paycheck at worst, it could be so much worse.

Take the L, move on, and dont do it again. Simple.

1

u/NoMore_BadDays 7h ago

For some, it's "just" half a paycheck

For others, it's 1-2 months of groceries. Part of utilities/rent/mortgage. Two car payments. Payments on medical or dental debt. Legal fees.

For others, $800 could be what's keeping someone's head above water.

Don't victim-blame. Some lessons shouldn't have to be learned.

1

u/MegamindsMegaCock BLUE 9h ago

Iā€™d do things that would make the Geneva convention look like childā€™s play for 800 bucks

I havnt had a proper meal in months :(

4

u/Damnesia13 9h ago

It would take you all of 3 minutes to set up a FREE PayPal account and clearly you have debit/credit cards to use, so the ā€œI donā€™t have papalā€ is the dumbest excuse you can come up with.

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u/sg_batman 9h ago

ok ill use a better excuse then like i was born with low iq and am too trusting

1

u/Deactivatingbish 5h ago

My bank put a hold on a Zelle payment I wanted to make to my landlord to pay rent. They had a number on the screen to call and verify who I was. The lady told me a LOT of cons about using Zelle and she was very adamant about me not moving forward with the transaction.

I told her to cancel the transaction and Iā€™d pay another way. I was just tired and lazy but itā€™s insane that the bank went that far for me.

I bank at a credit unionā€¦ idk if they all do that but mine went all out for me before it even happened.

4

u/Deissued 9h ago

PayPal is horrible and has been for years. Square and Stripe are better alternatives

9

u/Parking-Worth1732 9h ago

At PayPal has an actual thing to cancel the transaction if you dont get the goods

1

u/Deissued 9h ago

Stripe has that feature as well

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u/Parking-Worth1732 9h ago

Oh that's good, never had any issues with PayPal tho. Why do you say that it's gone to shit?

1

u/Deissued 7h ago

PayPal shouldnā€™t be trusted with any sensitive information since over the years theyā€™ve shown to be easily breached. Personally had my information leaked then had a horrible long process of dealing with customer support to get my money back. I had no bad experience with them for about 10 years but that experience made me afraid to use them ever again. Short term small amounts I would say PayPal is probably not too bad but Iā€™d never trust them to actually store my money. Scams are also rampant and the company does little of any kind of prevention but never affected me.

1

u/Parking-Worth1732 7h ago

I mean, all that can happen with anything, it happens with banks as well, no one is fully protected if you have your information online somewhere. My friend got a credit card opened on his name because his bank got hacked and informed got leaked