ARE APPS REALLY THE FUTURE OF BANKING?

Everyone says that Apps are the future of banking. The future of paying bills. The future of ordering groceries, gasoline, and clothes. I have to say I've been using Apps for the past couple of years for a variety of things, including receiving payments from individuals I know; but I just heard about a scam that makes me rethink using Apps at all.

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THE ZELLE SCAM

Scammers are everywhere, and they are great at what they do. If you think about it, there are plenty of people who get an education in computer technology, that decide to use it in against society rather than for it. Take for example, what recently happened to many people with the Zelle App.

A woman who used the Zelle App, received a text notification that appeared to be from her bank, asking her if she had authorized a specific transaction. She replied to the text saying she DID NOT AUTHORIZE the transaction, and almost immediately someone called her, stating that they were from the fraud department at her bank. It all sounds legit, so far.

The call appeared to actually come from her bank. The Caller then told her she needed to create a NEW account and move her money into the account. The individual ended up losing $3500 because it was all a scam.

DID YOU AUTHORIZE A FRAUDULENT TRANSACTION BY MISTAKE?

As individuals, we all think that our bank has our back, but they don't if you AUTHORIZE the transaction, as this person did. Even though the person fell for a scam, the bank said it would not cover the lost money, as the nature of the incident didn't fall under their fraud protection for unauthorized transactions. Since the individual fell for the scam and authorized the transaction, the bank will not refund the money.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

I wanted to alert people to this because Apps like Zelle DO notify a person if a transaction is happening. Zelle offers education on how to avoid scams using their app if you go to the Zelle platform.  They show a video and explain in detail how to avoid a scam, and I think it's SO important that you watch the video and share this information with everyone you know.

People are being scammed out of money every single day. Money that they need. Should it be the banks' responsibility to cover all of our mistakes? Although we would all like to think that we can just relax and let the bank take care of everything, it's just not that way, and with so many people not educating themselves on how to properly use Apps when it comes to personal information, I can see why the banks don't want to cover the charges. The money has to come from somewhere.

Who do you think should be responsible for covering the charges if you get scammed? Do you think it is your responsibility as a user of technology that should be responsible, or do you think banks should have to cover our mistakes? Let me know. Email me at Kelly@minnesotasnewcountry.com or Kelly@wjon.com.

 

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