Zelle may refund your money if you were scammed

Zelle recently made a huge change to its policy that would give victims of certain scams the chance to get their money back. The payment processor has confirmed to Engadget that it started reimbursing customers for impostor scams, such as those perpetrated by bad actors pretending to be banks, businesses and government agencies, as of June 30 this year. Its parent company Early Warning Services, LLC, said this “goes beyond legal requirements.” 

As Reuters noted when it reported Zelle’s policy change, federal laws can only compel banks to reimburse customers if payments were made without their authorization, but not when they made the transfer themselves. The payment processor, which is run by seven US banks that include Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo, explained that it defines scams as instances wherein a customer made payment but didn’t get what they were promised. It had anti-fraud policy from the time it was launched in 2017, but it only started returning money to customers who were scammed, possibly due to increasing scrutiny and pressure from authorities. 

“As the operator of Zelle, we continuously review and update our operating rules and technology practices to improve the …read more