Zelle scams: how they work and how to stay safe

Zelle is a popular U.S. service for instant money transfers that go directly into your bank account, even if the sender uses a different bank. It’s convenient and quick, but as with many other peer-to-peer payment services, it opens the door to all sorts of Zelle scams. 

For Zelle users, spotting a scam attempt is critical, as Zelle money transfers are instant and irreversible. Once the money is gone, it’s gone—unless you dispute the transaction as fraudulent. 

Learn to recognize and avoid the top Zelle scam techniques listed below, and get a checklist of steps to follow in case a scam does happen. 

Can you get scammed on Zelle?

Yes, you can get scammed on Zelle unless you stay guarded and educate yourself on the common signs of scams and fraud. 

While Zelle is fully legitimate and integrated with over 2,200 banking and credit institutions in the U.S., scammers still exploit people’s lack of security awareness and fallibility to trick them into sending money or parting with items they never get paid for. 

How Zelle works and why it’s a target for scammers

With 151+ million enrolled user accounts, Zelle is a remarkably popular payment service that has made peer-to-peer money transfers between different bank accounts as easy as a few taps on the screen. The service is integrated into more than 2,200 banking and credit union apps, so it requires no additional software beyond the one you already use. This simplicity and speed led to Zelle reporting an astounding $1 trillion in transactions in 2024—the most money sent in a single year by a P2P payment service.

This popularity doesn’t escape scammers and fraudsters, who are constantly looking for new ways to trick people into parting with their money. Here are just a few features that make Zelle attractive to scammers:

• Transfers are instant, so the victim has no time to think twice during the transaction.
• Payments are irreversible unless the transaction was fraudulent (i.e., not authorized by the user). 
• Zelle is linked to the user’s bank account, so scammers get direct access to your funds.
• There’s no built-in recipient verification. All you need to send someone money is a U.S. phone number or email address. Users are fully responsible for verifying recipients themselves.

Zelle’s no-refund policy: what it means for you

According to Zelle’s official policy, Zelle transactions can’t be reversed as the money moves right into the recipient’s bank account and can’t be moved back to yours. You can, however, cancel a payment if your recipient hasn’t yet enrolled with Zelle. 

Many Zelle users might think that, in the worst case scenario, they can get their money back. That’s not how the service operates, though. For this reason, Zelle reinforces the  importance of being extra vigilant and only transacting with people you know and trust, double-checking the phone number or email address you send money to.

The only case when you can get reimbursed is when your Zelle account has been compromised and you didn’t authorize the transaction, i.e. when your account was hacked and fraudsters stole your funds, not when you willingly send them money yourself. In case of Zelle fraud (defined as unauthorized financial activity that uses your personal information without your participation or approval), you have legal protections under the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (Regulation E). For reimbursement, you’ll need to first report fraud with your bank or credit union.

Common Zelle scams to watch out for

How do Zelle scams work? In most cases, scammers exploit our natural tendency to trust, help and fall for offers that are too good to be true. They also play on emotional sensitivity and urgency in situations related to family members’ safety, protecting our money, or finding housing. Scammers are skillful manipulators and have an entire toolkit to send out believable, yet fake, messages. 

To protect yourself, watch out for these common Zelle payment scams.

Impersonation scams: family, friends, and trusted businesses

Scammers may impersonate someone you already trust—your family members, friends, bank, insurance provider, gym—you name it.

You can get unexpected payment requests from someone you know, like a “friend” in crisis who is stuck in another country, in the hospital, or even arrested. Such requests often use urgent and unusual language to press you into sending money to help them out as soon as possible. 

In some contexts, like on social media or online marketplaces, scammers impersonate “trusted sellers” using stolen or stock photos, bios and listings from actual sellers. This is common for so-called puppy scams, where fraudsters pose as breeders and trick people into buying puppies with them only to take the money and disappear.

How to avoid this scam:

• Impersonators often use text-only communication to stay hidden and avoid calls. 
• Watch out for messages from unusual phone numbers or accounts, with pleas for urgency or secrecy.
• Always verify the request by calling or video-chatting with the actual person or organization you know.
• Don’t use Zelle for transactions with strangers.

A “pay yourself” scam

Fraudsters may reach out to you via text and phone posing as your bank’s representative. Alerting you about some suspicious money transfer from your Zelle account, they will walk you through the steps to “revert” the transaction by sending a sum of money to “yourself”. What the fraudsters are doing in reality is tricking you into sharing your Zelle verification code so they can link your U.S. phone number or email to their bank account and make you unwittingly transfer your money there.

How to avoid this scam: 

• Remember: no legitimate bank will ever ask you to send money to yourself. This is a prime sign of a scam. 
• If you receive suspicious messages or calls, do not engage.
• When in doubt, contact your bank’s official support through your banking app, their official website, or by phone (see the phone number on the back of your credit or debit card).

Phishing scams: Zelle email scams and fake texts

Phishing is a fraudulent social engineering technique used to trick unaware users into sharing sensitive personal information, such as login credentials, verification codes, and credit card data. 

Fraudsters may send you emails or texts posing as Zelle or your banking institution, and make you click a link contained in the message to “verify your account”, “block a suspicious transaction” or for any other urgent and convincing reason. They will use a spoofed website that looks legitimate but in reality is only designed to collect your personal information that fraudsters can use to access your accounts or steal your identity.

How to avoid this scam:

• Watch out for emails and messages claiming to be from Zelle with subject lines like “Your Zelle account has been locked” or “Verify your Zelle account information” that ask you to click a link and enter your information. 
• Verify the sender’s email address. The only official Zelle email domain is @zellepay.com. If the email appears to be from your bank, check for misspellings and unknown email domains.
• Do not click any links or reply to these messages.
• Don’t trust caller ID and always verify the official phone numbers.
• Report the scam to Zelle.
• Forward the phishing email to the Anti-Phishing Working Group at r[email protected].
• Forward the phishing text message to SPAM (7726).

Fake Zelle payment requests

In this impersonation scam, fraudsters send you an email or text with a “Zelle payment request” or a fake invoice from a seemingly legitimate business like Amazon, Netflix, your local plumber, or another organization, for a service you allegedly used. 

Even if you can’t remember using this service, scammers prey on your confusion and try to persuade you to send them money, often by calling you in-person and threatening to cancel the service or even initiate legal action if you don’t pay. In some cases, they will provide you with a phone number or a link to “cancel” the charge, but will use this to collect more sensitive information from you. 

How to avoid this scam:

• Verify the message using official business contact information.
• Ignore unsolicited invoices from unfamiliar organizations.
• Never send money to initiate a refund or cancel a charge.
• Don’t click on links in unexpected emails from unfamiliar senders. 

Facebook Marketplace scams

Fake Zelle scams on Facebook Marketplace, or any online marketplace, for that matter, can target both sellers and buyers. These scams come in many forms:

• A “pending” payment scam. When you sell something on a marketplace, a buyer may ask you to use Zelle and then report that their payment to you is “pending” until you send a fee or a refund. Of course, they never send you anything and take your money instead. 
  
• An overpayment scam. The buyer may claim that they have sent you a larger sum of money than agreed and request you to refund the difference. In some cases, you may even get a fake email from “Zelle” showing the buyer’s payment confirmation (it’s a spoof). In reality, the “buyer” never paid you anything but you lost the money you sent them.
  
• Fake sellers. A classic of online marketplaces, this type of scam involves a seller who asks you to pay them upfront before meeting up, using a different payment method than the one authorized by the marketplace. You pay, they disappear, and you have no recourse to get your money back as the transaction won’t be covered by marketplace buyer protections in this case.
  
• A chargeback scam. Even if the buyer pays you, the payment may be later charged back or canceled if it was made using a stolen credit card or bank account. You’re left with neither the item nor the money. 

How to avoid this scam:

• Never send payments to “unlock” a pending payment. Zelle doesn’t work that way (and neither does any other legitimate payment service).
• Always use the payment method authorized by the marketplace. For example, platforms like Poshmark and Facebook Marketplace have their own built-in payment systems that help protect users from scam and fraud. Never take transactions off these platforms for safety reasons.
• Take you time to analyze the seller’s listing or the buyer’s offer: is it too good to be true? Does it use urgency to press you into acting fast? Does it sound generic and lack details? These are top signs of scammers.
• Check that all emails from Zelle use the official domain: @zellepay.com. 
• Always double-check transactions in your banking app. Do not trust emails or texts alone.

A business account upgrade scam

This scam might be the easiest to spot, as there’s no such thing as business account upgrades with Zelle. Nevertheless, a scammer may try to trick you into upgrading your account to a business one in order for you to receive a  “pending” payment. 

They do this by sending an email allegedly from Zelle, instructing you to complete the transaction by sending a sum of money (usually around $500) to upgrade to a business account. What really happens is that you send the money to the fraudster’s bank account and never receive the original payment.

How to avoid this scam:

• Ignore any requests to upgrade your Zelle account. No such upgrades exist.
• Do not click on any links in these messages, and block the sender.
• Report the email to the Federal Trade Commission. 
• If you received a text, forward it to SPAM (7726).

Rental scams

You’re in a rush to find a new home and see a rental listing online. The “landlord” asks you for a deposit or the first month’s rent via Zelle to secure the rental for you before you even see the property. You abide, and the landlord disappears after receiving the money. In many cases, the property was either fake or didn’t belong to them.

How to avoid this scam:

• Always insist on seeing the property before making any rental agreements or payments. 
• Avoid rental listings with no photos or seller reviews.

There are many more Zelle scam variations. Learn more about them in these official safety guides from Zelle.

What to do if you’ve been scammed on Zelle

How do you know if you’ve been scammed on Zelle? A scam is defined as knowingly transferring your money or possession to a recipient and never receiving what is owed to you in return. The key point here is that you do authorize the transaction in a way, since you approved it and willingly participated in it. In contrast, fraud typically occurs without your knowledge, for example when someone takes over your bank account and conducts unauthorized activity with it. 

Why is this difference important? In case of fraud, you can typically claim reimbursement under the law. If it was a scam, you’ll have no recourse except certain qualifying cases.

If you suspect you’ve been scammed on Zelle, take these steps:

Contact your bank immediately

In case of a Zelle scam, your bank or credit union is your primary point of contact. 

Report what happened using your bank or credit union’s official support channels or by calling the number on the back of your bank card. They’ll guide you through the steps, which may include reporting fraud, deactivating your payment card, or freezing your credit. 

Some qualifying transactions, such as impersonation scams, may be eligible for reimbursement. 

Report the scam to Zelle and the FTC

You should report the scam to Zelle either online or by calling 1-844-428-8542. 

You can also report the scam and suspected identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission and the Internet Crime Complaint Center. 

Even if Zelle cannot help in your specific case(e.g., if the transaction was authorized), reporting scams is important to help flag malicious actors. The phone numbers and email addresses they use can be blocked or flagged, minimizing the risk to other users.

Protect your accounts and identity

If you suspect your digital accounts or identity have been compromised, take the following steps: 

• Change passwords and enable two-factor authentication for your banking and email accounts. 
• Turn on bank account notifications to track transactions and login attempts.
• Scan the dark web for traces of your personal information available for sale there.
• Subscribe to an identity protection service for automated credit and home title monitoring to ensure fraudsters don’t take advantage of the information they hold about you.

Review your security practices and stay vigilant

In the aftermath of a scam, take time to reflect on what happened. Ask yourself: 

• Were you pressured to act quickly without thinking?
• Did you trust the person contacting you without verifying their legitimacy?
• Did you question unexpected requests?
• Were there any common signs of phishing?
• Did you act on impulse rather than reason?

Use this self-assessment to review your security practices going forward and improve your scam-spotting skills using resources such as Banks Never Ask That, Zelle’s safety guides, and your bank’s learning center.

How to avoid Zelle scams

It pays to protect yourself from Zelle payment scams proactively. Take note of the following safety techniques to avoid falling victim to impersonation, phishing or fake payment requests via Zelle:

• Verify contacts before sending money. Since Zelle offers no identity verification controls, it’s your task to check both the identity and contact information of the recipient, even if the person appears to be someone you know.
  
• Don’t interact with suspicious phone calls, texts or emails. Hang up on unknown callers who try to trick you into sharing your personal information, don’t click any links in suspicious emails or texts, and never respond to any such messages. Once you show a willingness to engage, scammers will go out of their way to prey on you.
  
• Never send Zelle payments to strangers or someone you’ve never met in person. Like Venmo, Zelle was designed as a payment service for people who actually know and trust each other. For other purposes, there are dedicated payment methods that offer buyer and seller protection.
  
• Set up real-time transaction alerts in your banking app to track all transactions in your name. This helps monitor your account activity and prevents you from being tricked by Zelle email scams.
  
• Make phishing attempts harder for scammers by removing your personal information from the internet. Use Onerep to automatically remove your name, physical and email addresses, phone number, and other sensitive details from 200+ websites. Scammers use this information to personalize their attacks and make them more convincing. Without having this information, they’re less likely to target you.

FAQs

Can Zelle payments be reversed if you were scammed?

By default, Zelle payments can’t be reversed. However, certain payments made due to impersonation scams may qualify for reimbursement under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA). Consult with your bank or credit union in each particular case.

How do I report a scam on Zelle?

For immediate assistance, contact your bank or credit union’s official support channel or call the number on  the back of your bank card. You can also report a scam directly to Zelle, the Federal Trade Commission and the Internet Crime Complaint Center, but no direct assistance is guaranteed in these cases.

Is it safe to use Zelle with strangers?

No, Zelle is not safe to use with strangers. Always verify the identity of those you send money to and avoid transacting with people you have never met.

Why are scammers using Zelle more often?

Zelle scams are on the rise because of the service’s multi-million user base, instant and irreversible payments, ease of transactions that require only a phone number or an email address, and lack of recipients’ identity verification. These features make scams easier but require extra vigilance on the part of Zelle users. 

What’s the safest way to use Zelle?

The safest way to use Zelle is to only send money to people you know and trust, and to always verify the recipient’s identity. Avoid interacting with suspicious emails, texts, and calls impersonating Zelle and asking for your sensitive information. When in doubt, contact the actual person or organization through a different, verified channel.