María Elena Flores has fallen into one of the most frequent frauds: the alleged protection of bank accounts.
Flores says he received a text message, purporting to be from Bank of America. where they asked him if he had spent $3,500.
“They asked me if I had made this transaction. Whether he would answer yes or no,” says Flores. “I immediately said no.”
There are over 190,000 scam complaints in the last two years
This response led to another message informing her that a Bank of America agent would be contacting her.
He received a call from an alleged bank representative, who behaved very professionally, says Flores. It gave him confidence.
“They never asked me for my name, my account number, my social security or anything to make this transfer that was made during this whole call,” says Flores.
They asked him to make a wire transfer, he was told, to make sure he was given back the $3,500 someone had withdrawn from his account. They gave him a number that was supposed to be a key to do this shipment through Zelle.
Flores sensed something was wrong and asked to speak to someone in Spanish. But they told her no one was available and kept her on the phone.
“They made me wait. They would stay for a few minutes, with the music from the bank, and then they would come back,” says Flores.
The guidelines allow the IRS to take a closer look at business transactions for cash applications.
Eventually, he agreed to write down the numbers he had been given. When she hung up, she received a notification from Zelle which surprised her.
“I had sent a deposit to a certain phone number for $3,500,” he said.
I tried to call the bank to cancel it but they told them it was impossible as it was a wire transfer. All I could do was file a claim and wait.
“(They told me) between 60 and 90 days. That’s when I knew it was a fraud,” Flores said.
When you go to the bank to deposit money, it seems like your savings are just stored and ready to go. But did you know that they are not really saved? This is what happens with your money.
Zelle Policies indicate that they only consider fraud if someone makes a transaction by falsifying the identity of another person. But if a victim of fraud, as in the case of Flores, is the one carrying out the transaction, the money is not returned to him because they consider that he authorized the sending.
“I felt like, I don’t mean depressed but like I lost money, that I wasn’t going to get it back,” Flores said.
Her mother advised her to contact the Telemundo 52 Responde team, who contacted Bank of America to request a response on her case.
To avoid having to resort to credit cards or loans to cover an unexpected expense, these recommendations can help you build that savings base. Video by Jacqueline Mata. For more information, visit cnbc.com/espanol
Telemundo Responde explained to the bank that, according to information provided by Flores, she was thinking of speaking with a representative of the bank.
Shortly after, the bank refunded the $3,500 to his bank account.
This signals that he has learned a lesson.
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“Don’t make hasty decisions,” advises Flores. “You have to take the time to communicate with the bank because they will never call you.”
In such cases, text messages should not be answered, even if they appear to come from the bank where the money is held. It’s best to call the number on the back of the credit card and confirm with them directly if there’s a problem.
This will confirm if it is a scam.