Facebook Marketplace

Today I put up my first two items on Facebook marketplace. I was so excited when I had TWO people interested in buying my desk. They both stated that they tried to message me on Facebook and to instead text them.

I texted the first person who commented. She asked if I wanted the money through Zelle or Venmo, I said Zelle. A few seconds later I got an email (in my junk email, red flag number one) stating that she needed to send me an additional $500 for me to unlock the business portion of my Zelle account. There was a phone number attached at the bottom for help and support. So I called the phone number.

It started off pretty normal. Asking me to open my Zelle account through the email that I gave her. Fast forward 20 minutes, I'm now screen sharing while having this dude walk me through opening up at least 5 different accounts such as Venmo, PayPal, cashapp, and chime. I transferred $500 to the chime account and watched as it literally diminished in seconds( red flag number two). He then tried to get me to send another $500 to chime, which did not go through.

Next thing I know, I'm trying to purchase Apple gifts cards in the value of my entire bank account. Trying to Zelle my entire bank account to random accounts just to see if it even works. Thankfully, by this point my bank account has flagged everything for fraudulent activity.

Like an idiot, I continue to sign up for debit cards and entire in my social security number, addresses, and even taking pictures of my license to get verified on these sites. At one point I even hung up and VERIFIED these purchases with my credit card company so they would go through ( thankfully they still didn't even after verification).

Finally, he asked me to go to Venmo and deposit $1,000 which did go through. I saw the amount start to fluctuate gradually and immediately started to recognize what was happening. Since I couldn't screen share and be on Venmo the entire time, I started to put the pieces together. I was still sharing screenshots though of the debit card information which held $1,000. Once I saw that number decrease by $10, I looked up the actual Zelle helpline number and connected the dots.

I basically ended up saying something along the lines of, "this is a fucking scam, you aren't the hotline for Zelle support" and hung up. I then immediately transferred the remaining $991 to my bank account before anymore could be taken from me. I then started damage control by calling my bank account. Then this same number had the audacity to try to get me BACK ON THE PHONE, with the original number saying something along the lines of "did you sort it out yet?".

Two hours later, I called both my credit card companies asking for new cards, called the credit lines and put a freeze on my accounts in case they try to open new accounts, changed passcodes for bank accounts, yahoo, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. and after all of this I am STILL shaking with worry and fear.

They have ALL of my information. Zip codes, addresses, my social security number, my license number, and over $1,000 of my money. I am so incredibly frustrated with myself. I think I've taken all the necessary precautionary steps but I am so scared.