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Zelle, the Banks’ Answer to Venmo, Proves Vulnerable to Fraud

nytimes.com

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Re: Zelle, the Banks’ Answer to Venmo, Proves Vulnerable to Fraud

#51

Post by johnmcd3 »

a3n wrote: post #24

It's frustrating to me that I can't just go to my Wells Fargo account on the web and send money from my account to my recipient's account by routing and account number. I can do that with my USAA bank account.

US Bank took away next day transfers to a bank account via routing/account number (ACH) as they are pushing Zelle more. They also dropped the (previously higher) transaction limits on 3-day routing/acct numb/ACH down to the $5,000 3-day limit on Zelle.

It’s frustrating when they take away a perfectly good service just push their new thing harder.

Re: Zelle, the Banks’ Answer to Venmo, Proves Vulnerable to Fraud

#52

Post by kristianc »

dothis9 wrote: post #49
herpderperator wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your bank flags and blocks your credit card for suspicious activity which you didn't initiate, are you going to "yeah no" them too, and refuse to call them up? There is nothing wrong with having to call up a financial institution to verify things that raise alarm bells for them.

I usually just pull out a different credit card, and then take the card that didn't work out of my wallet when I get home. Sometimes I might get around to calling my bank (somewhat depends on my perception of how long their customer service is going to take to fix the issue), but it's faster for me to just replace that card with another card from my collection of cards (I've got too many cards to keep them all in my…

> Sometimes I might get around to calling my bank (somewhat depends on my perception of how long their customer service is going to take to fix the issue), but it's faster for me to just replace that card with another card from my collection of cards (I've got too many cards to keep them all in my wallet at any given time).

This is a real and common problem for banks/card issuers, who tend to be obsessive about keeping genuine transactions declined to a minimum for this reason.

Blocking all fraud is achievable, but it would come at the cost of many instances like this.

Re: Zelle, the Banks’ Answer to Venmo, Proves Vulnerable to Fraud

#53

Post by dawhizkid »

joelrunyon wrote: post #17
elvirs wrote: post #12

I noticed that one of the issues with Zelle is that people have accounts at multiple banks that all support Zelle but they use only 1 phone number connected to their banking apps. So sometimes when I send money from my chase mobile banking app to my friend's number who also has chase mobile banking app, the money actually ends up going to his bank of america account because he uses the same phone number on bank of am…

Them tying this to a (cell) phone number is actually VERY annoying. I have multiple bank accounts, but one cell phone. The fact they limit the ability to create more accounts without more than one phone creates all sorts of issues.

You can tie to an email. I sent money between 2 accounts I own where one is tied to my phone and the other an email. Not sure if this is technically “allowed” but it is way faster than using the actual external bank transfer options.

Re: Zelle, the Banks’ Answer to Venmo, Proves Vulnerable to Fraud

#54

Post by gcb0 »

panarky wrote: post #43

There needs to be a very large, very prominent warning on every transaction: "ONLY SEND MONEY TO PEOPLE YOU KNOW." "IF YOU SEND MONEY TO A SCAMMER, ZELLE WILL NOT HELP YOU GET YOUR MONEY BACK." Zelle is not PayPal. There is no dispute resolution service if the seller on Craigslist doesn't deliver and stops responding to your messages. Don't use Zelle to send money to strangers.

> Zelle is not "a company even worse on refunds and user rights"

missed your point.

Re: Zelle, the Banks’ Answer to Venmo, Proves Vulnerable to Fraud

#55

Post by nerfhammer »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #11
valuearb wrote: post #8

Early Warning is owned by a consortium of major banks. Supposedly during development of the apps, if any one bank wanted a feature the team basically had to implement it. Allegedly the team wasn’t allowed to push out the ship date or refuse new features, their only lever was adding more resource. Any wonder why it shipped months late and with the most horrific reviews I’ve ever seen for a mobile app? My guess is fixi…

Fixing problems might not be easy, but as you mention, Early Warning is owned by a consortium of large US banks. Compared to PayPal, Stripe, and other non bank chartered institutions, their resources are effectively unlimited. Those problems are going to get fixed eventually. Wells Fargo was fined a billion dollars [1] and will continue to operate as an ongoing business. This is a road bump. [1] https://www.npr.org/s…

why couldn't they throw down the cash to buy out an existing product that doesn't suck?

Re: Zelle, the Banks’ Answer to Venmo, Proves Vulnerable to Fraud

#57

Post by sjroot »

The one thing I don't understand about Venmo is that it, based on my (limited) use, seems to show transactions amongst users in a "social networking" manner. I believe you are able to make your activity private, but why would anyone want it any other way? Am I the only one who thinks this is absolutely absurd? I am a very happy user of Square Cash as a result.

Re: Zelle, the Banks’ Answer to Venmo, Proves Vulnerable to Fraud

#58

Post by staz »

btbuilder wrote: post #26
doesnt_know wrote: post #15

Here in kiwi-land, a bank transfer from one individual or business to another is considered the most basic of banking services and all banks support it. Here are some screenshots from the KiwiBank web interface, (but it's similar for all banks): https://i.imgur.com/ug9VU5t.png https://i.imgur.com/HRsyQoN.png There are no fees related to this unless you start doing international transfers, it's just part of the servic…

I think this has to do with a fundamental difference in how sensitive account number and routing numbers are in the US compared with other international financial systems I have used. In the US, if someone has your account number and routing number you can attempt all sorts of fraud via the eCheck system. People and companies are wary about giving out their account numbers. Providing an account number here is more of…

What's the deal with you Americans and your magic numbers?

So you have your Social Security Number that you can't give for fear of someone impersonating you, your Credit Card Number you cannot give for someone might steal from you and now you tell me you can't even give your bank account number.

So you have all theses numbers you have to keep secret because they are the gateway to someone ruining your life, yet you still have to communicate them routinely to a number of institutions in order to function in society. Isn't that a bit crazy?

Re: Zelle, the Banks’ Answer to Venmo, Proves Vulnerable to Fraud

#59

Post by rhodysurf »

sjroot wrote: post #57

The one thing I don't understand about Venmo is that it, based on my (limited) use, seems to show transactions amongst users in a "social networking" manner. I believe you are able to make your activity private, but why would anyone want it any other way? Am I the only one who thinks this is absolutely absurd? I am a very happy user of Square Cash as a result.

Sort of. It shows who paid who and their comment, but it does NOT show how much money was exchanged.

Re: Zelle, the Banks’ Answer to Venmo, Proves Vulnerable to Fraud

#60

Post by rkho »

lemonberry wrote: post #33
rkho wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read this comment and the first thing that it reminded me of was @patio11's post on contacting banks after the Equifax breach, and so I was about to dig it up to post as a comment when I realized who the GP was :)

Is this the post you're referring to? https://www.kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/identity-theft-credit-r...

It is!
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