Greenacres small business owner warns others after falling for Zele scam

The owner of a medical and psychiatric services clinic lost $40,000 when her Zelle account, called Contact 5, was hacked by someone claiming to be with Chase Bank.

“It was on Wednesday. I got a text message that looked like chess because it had chess messages in it, asking if I was trying to make a transaction — I believe $60,000 to someone in Ohio,” Acelise Alexis, owner of KA Comprehensive Medical and Psychiatric Services, told Contact 5.

Worried that someone has stolen her information, Alexis says she trusts the person on the other line.

“They got a lot of my Zelle receivers. I don’t know where they got them,” Alexis said. “They tried to contact my sister. They sent a code to her cell phone and told me to read it. So I called my sister… I thought it was chess and gave them the code, and guess what, it was a code to verify that I was shopping with my sister.

With this code, Alexis Chase claims they were able to impersonate the bank full-time and hack into her account to steal $40,000.

Alexis told Contact 5 this is a huge loss for her small business.

“We were planning to pay this money back because when we first opened the loan, it was about $100,000. We didn’t have the money,” Alexis said.

These days, apps like Zelle, Venmo and the Cash app are commonplace for quick transactions, and financial advisors warn that using them can often be too tempting to steal someone’s financial information if you’re not careful who you trust.

MORE: IRS Reminds Business Owners About Zelle Tax Changes

“There’s a lot of trust involved in the way they’ve done this,” says Carl Gould, owner of 7Stage Advisors.

Gold told Contact 5 the key is to be suspicious of calls or emails from anyone seeking personal or banking information.

“Anytime someone calls you, ‘Oh, can I have your name, please, and what’s your ID number? And if we lose contact, who do I call? What’s my call back number? Who’s your direct supervisor?'” Gold said. “If they’re a legitimate organization, they’ll give you all that information.”

Another option is to hang up and call your bank directly and ask if this is a legitimate call or email, which Alexis said she’ll do next time.

“Hang up right away,” Alexis said. “Don’t give out any information. Don’t talk to them. Call the bank, whatever the number is on the back of your card. Find out if they’re trying to call you and you know, make sure it’s not. What’s wrong with me.”

Alexis told Contact 5 she is now working with her lawyers to get her money back.

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