Woman left ‘sick to stomach’ after trying to sell $100 bike – she lost $2,000 on Zelle within minutes

A WOMAN has lost thousands after falling victim to a scam conducted over a popular app-based money service.

Susan Whinery and her husband were in the process of clearing out old and unused items from their home before the incident.

9News

Susan Whinery (pictured) lost $2,000 to scammers[/caption]

9News

She was attempting to sell an old bike for a sweet deal online[/caption]

Getty

Bad actors used Zelle to trick the retiree (stock image)[/caption]

The couple posted a number of them on Facebook Marketplace, including a used bike, which they listed for a fraction of the original cost at $100.

A short time later, Whinery was contacted on the social media platform by a man who claimed he reached out on behalf of his sister, who was interested in purchasing it.

Asserting that his sister didn’t have Facebook, the man passed on the phone number of a woman – allegedly his sister – who Whinery reached out to directly.

This, according to Whinery, was the first sign that something was amiss.

RED FLAGS

“She said she wanted the bike, but she was working out of town, and she had a nephew that she would like to pick up the bike, and she would pay for it ahead of time,“ Whinery, a retired teacher, told local Denver NBC affiliate 9News.

Following this initial exchange, the woman suggested Whinery use her Zelle account for their transactions.

While Whinery had the app already downloaded on her phone, she admitted she had barely used it.

After asking the supposed bike buyer for help, Whinery told 9News that she soon after received an email, purportedly from Zelle.

According to the email, which allegedly originated from the company’s customer service department, Whinery’s account was inactive.

The retiree was then instructed to send $500 to the woman she was communicating with to kickstart it again.

The woman promised Whinery she would send $600 back – leaving the internet stranger with the original $100, as promised.

What happened next was part of a larger scheme – and though Whinery started to get a funny feeling, she went along with it anyway.

“The back of my head, I knew the whole time,” Whinery recalled.

“Don’t ask me why I played into that, but I did.”

She received a subsequent email from the alleged Zelle rep, who in turn asked her for $1500, stating the initial $500 hadn’t been enough to reactivate her app account. 

After Whinery found herself out $2000 and still receiving emails demanding more money, she said she “felt very, very sick to her stomach.

The former teacher had become one of many who fall victim to similar scams every year.

SCAMS ABOUND AND RUNAROUNDS

Susan Whinery is hardly the first person to fall prey to a scam via Zelle – or any con masterminded by way of a money sending app.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, $2 billion has been lost due to scams conducted via bank transfers of money orders.

That means thousands upon thousands are in the same spot as Whinery.

And while Zelle’s official page on frauds and scams might seem detailed, Whinery argued that she found herself trapped in a hamster wheel in an attempt to get her money back.

Despite contacting the police, they simply directed her to Zelle in order to get information on the fraudster’s bank, the institution the money was sent to.

In turn, a verified customer service representative at Zelle told Whinery to contact her own bank.

Her bank then told her to go back to Zelle. Rinse and repeat.

It remains unclear as to whether Whinery will ever get her cash back.

“If I can fall for it, somebody who’s much needier and having much more of a struggle in their lives than I am is going to get taken,” Whinery said.

Property-based scams have also grown more common around the United States in recent years.

A couple was left devastated this summer after losing $33,000 to roof repairs that were never completed.

After paying three times as much for $300,000 home renovations, a woman was also left with “no retirement” funds.