I've Written About Loads of Scams. This One Almost Got Me
Posted4 months agoActive4 months ago
nytimes.comTechstory
calmnegative
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ScamsBanking SecurityZelle
Key topics
Scams
Banking Security
Zelle
A journalist, experienced in writing about scams, nearly fell victim to a sophisticated scam involving Zelle and Chase, highlighting the evolving nature of banking scams and the importance of verification.
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Sep 18, 2025 at 1:36 PM EDT
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Some guy who thought himself smart, was almost fooled to sent $2K to scammers pretending to help him fix a bogus Zelle scam.
The call came from a number listed as belonging to Chase and with the caller ID of Chase.
The interesting part: after the scam-call the scam-target decides to go, IN PERSON, to the very Chase branch with the phone number from which the scam-call came. The scam-target's lists his explicit purpose for the visit: "Did the bank know what was going on, with fake calls seemingly coming from their office?"
The bank knew, but nobody touched upon how the number was spoofed and why that is possible. If anything, people should be warned not to trust the caller ID and number that appear on their phones until some technical solution to spoofing is found.