There’s a new person-to-person (P2P) payment scam out there. It involves young adults going door to door, looking to “fundraise” for a sports team or extracurricular organization. But be leery, this is a scam designed to steal your money! How does it work? We’ll show you exactly how this scam plays out and how you can prevent it from happening to you.

How the Scam Works

• A group of young adults rings your doorbell or comes up to you in person while you’re out, and tells you they are trying to raise funds for their sports team to buy new uniforms (or for a similar activity).
• There is a clear spokesperson in the group whose job is to distract you, by explaining a lengthy story on what the “donations” will be used for and how much they would help the team. While you’re listening to the bogus story, another member of the group says not to worry – you can easily donate through Venmo or Zelle, and they’ll quickly put their contact information in your phone for you so that you can do a quick transfer once they leave.
• While you are distracted with the story and how easy the scammers make the donation options sound, it’s not hard to fall for this scam and hand over your phone without thinking it through – to the individual who asked for it. However, you should never give your unlocked phone to anyone you do not know! This is how the scam unfortunately takes place.
• Once the scammer has your unlocked phone, they can easily click on your Venmo or Zelle app – and transfer your money over to themselves in seconds. You probably wouldn’t even realize it’s happening as one member of the group continues to talk to you and distract you, while you think the one who has your phone is simply entering their contact information for you to make a transfer later.
• The worst part of a P2P payment scam, is that you typically can’t get your transferred funds back.

You can prevent this or other similar P2P payment scams from happening to you by only sending money to those you know and trust, treating Zelle and Venmo like cash, refraining from giving anyone you don’t know your unlocked cell phone, and if you think something is too good to be true or it feels off – it probably is.

At First Financial, our goal is to help protect our members from scams and identity theft. If you have any concerns or questions about any of your First Financial accounts, please call member services at 732.312.1500 or visit one of our branches.

To learn more about scams and ways to protect yourself, visit zellepay.com/pay-it-safe.

Zelle and the Zelle related marks are wholly owned by Early Warning Services, LLC and are used herein under license.