Vent: someone spoofed my dad's number and my aunt sent $1,400 before anyone caught it
I was sitting at my kitchen table in Sacramento last Tuesday when my aunt called crying, saying my dad had texted her for an emergency wire and she sent it through Zelle in about ten minutes flat. I got him on the phone and he never sent a thing, so now we have a family rule: any money request gets a call back to the number already saved in your phone, not the one in the text. Has anyone actually gotten money back from Zelle after something like this, or is it just gone?
Did your aunt happen to pay with a credit card linked to Zelle instead of her bank balance? That matters because some cards let you dispute unauthorized transfers, while money pulled straight from a checking account is basically gone once it leaves. It is worth calling her bank today and asking about the card angle, since that window closes fast.