Let’s look at a couple of examples.
Someone gets access to your bank account without your knowledge or permission and uses Zelle® to send money from your account. Because you didn’t authorize this transaction, you can usually get your money back.
In another case, you use Zelle® to pay someone but never receive the item or service you paid for. Because you’ve authorized the payment, it’s harder to get your money back—and may not even be possible.
In either event, contact Truist for help.
Tips to help protect your business
To protect your small business from scams, pay close attention to invoices and other communications requesting payment. Always make sure you’ve received the items or services listed and that you actually ordered them. If you’re unsure, confirm with other employees and educate them to do the same. It’s also a good idea to conduct regular audits of your financials, so you can be alerted to anything that doesn’t add up. For added peace of mind, separate any personal banking and credit card information from your business account.
Learn more about protecting your small business from scams.
- Use Zelle® only with people or businesses you know and trust.
- Make sure you have the correct U.S. mobile phone number or email address for the person you want to send money to. When in doubt, contact your payee to double check. If you authorize a payment to be sent to the wrong person, you may not get your money back. Get more Zelle® safety tips.
- Update your security settings with multifactor identification so it’s harder to access your online banking account.
- Use hard-to-guess passwords, and update them frequently.
- Sign up for Truist texts and email alerts so you’ll get notifications about important activity on your Truist accounts.
- Don’t give out your personal information online, such as your home address or phone number.
- Stay clear of public Wi-Fi.
- Beware of phishing calls and emails. Don’t click on email links if you’re not sure of the sender. Remember that Truist will never call or email you to ask for your account information such as passwords. If a caller claims to be from Truist, hang up and call 888-228-6654.
- Only scammers will ask you to send money to yourself.
- If a call seems suspicious, hang up and contact your bank directly at the number listed on the back of your debit card, in your banking app, or on the bank’s official website.
- Learn how to spot a pay yourself scam.
- Does the deal sound too good to be true? It probably is. When in doubt, ask to pay in an alternate method. Neither Truist nor Zelle® offers payment protection, so it’s important to only send money to friends or businesses you trust.
- If a caller tries to create urgency and wants you to use Zelle®, ask to send an alternate payment method. Urgency is a common scam tactic. If the recipient can only take Zelle®, that should be a red flag that it may be a scam.
Want to learn more about keeping your accounts secure? Visit our fraud and security page.