Zelle scam targets Kansas man for a fake $2,500 refund through bank account

By Matt Flener

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KMBC) — Taylor Witt is hoping for a refund from U.S. Bank or Zelle after he said he fell for a very sophisticated scam.

Witt emailed KMBC 9 Investigates for help after he said someone stole $2,500 from his U.S. Bank account through a fake Zelle refund scam.

Witt said the scammer called him from a number impersonating his bank’s fraud department. The scammer told him that his bank account was hit by a fraudulent Zelle transaction, convincing Witt to go through a fake refund process with Zelle.

Reluctant at first, he said the scammer convinced him to look at the back of his debit card to compare the telephone number to the caller ID on his cell phone, and the numbers then matched.

Witt said that he has tried to get U.S. Bank to refund the money, but so far, the bank has not budged.

“It was just very devastating,” he said. “It just didn’t register with me that the person warning me of the fraud was the one trying to take the money.”

Witt has seen news stories across the country of people falling for digital payment scams, along with a push by lawmakers to get banks to refund people’s money.

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