Zelle / P2P payment scam.
In plain English
A peer-to-peer, or P2P, payment scam pressures you into sending money through an app like Zelle, Venmo, or Cash App. These transfers are designed to be instant and are generally treated like cash, so once sent they are very hard to get back, and payments you were tricked into authorizing yourself have historically had weaker protection than an unauthorized charge. Scammers exploit this with fake emergencies, fake sales, or a ruse where they pose as your bank and tell you to send money to yourself to reverse fraud. Treat a P2P transfer like handing over cash: only to people you know and trust.
01Why it matters
P2P transfers are fast and largely irreversible, and money you are tricked into sending yourself can be harder to recover than a stolen card charge, so caution before sending is the main protection.
02The math, step by step
Someone posing as your bank says fraud was detected and instructs you to send money to yourself through the app to reverse it, but the destination is really theirs. Because you approved the transfer, getting it back is hard. A real bank never tells you to send yourself money through an app.
03What this is NOT
It is not like a credit card. A P2P transfer works more like cash, and a payment you were deceived into approving yourself can have less protection than an unauthorized card charge, which is why sending only to trusted people matters.
04Receipts
Every figure on this page is sourced to a primary document. Tap to open the original.