Man Says He Got Zelle’d $3,100 for Rent by a Stranger. Now He’s Wondering What to Do: ‘I’m Not a Total Piece of S***’
He was warned it could be a scam.
In the digital age, sending and receiving money has become more convenient than ever with the use of mobile wallets and payment apps. But with how simple it is, it’s easy to make a mistake when transferring money. One man said he received a $3,100 transfer from a stranger through Zelle, and wondered how he should deal with the mistake.
Spencer Zimmerman (@_deadleg) shared in a video that has since gotten over 445,100 views about the mishap on TikTok. In the video, Zimmerman claimed that someone had sent him $3,100 the previous night as a payment for the mystery sender’s rent.
While randomly receiving money might seem like luck was on our side, to Zimmerman, the incident seemingly left him confused about how to move forward. “I have no idea who they are,” he said. “And I’m not a total piece of s***. Occasionally I’m like a piece of one. But yeah, I do want to return it.”
Viewers warn content creator of Zelle scam
Zimmerman told his viewers that he wanted to return the money, but he claimed to not know the best way to go about it. “I don’t know how to. Does anybody have ideas on how to achieve that?” he asked.
Zimmerman’s viewers flocked to the comment section and warned the content creator that it could be a scam. “Call your bank, let them handle it. DO NOT send it back, it’s a scam,” one commenter wrote. “Definitely a scam, they claim fraud and keep your money,” another wrote. “It’s a scam, tell your bank and let them reverse it. Otherwise their goal if you send the money then the original deposit is reversed leaving you $3100 short or in the negative.”
Viewers’ concerns over Zimmerman’s mysterious $3,100 acquisition are not unfounded. With digital wallets and payment apps becoming the new norm, scammers had been utilizing such softwares to scam people out of their money or gain access to bank accounts.
In a follow-up video captioned “This is quite the situation it turns out!” Zimmerman claimed that viewers’ comments had “freaked me out, like, seriously.” According to the content creator, most of his comments had told him of the possible scam.
What seemed to worry Zimmerman was a comment that urged him not to report to the bank and claimed that his account could be shut down due to money laundering. With the comment, Zimmerman was left “even more confused” about what to do with the situation. “As it stands right now, I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing other than nothing,” he said.
The mysterious sender was a client
In a statement to BroBible, Zelle advised users to “contact their bank or credit union immediately using a trusted channel” if they receive an unexpected payment from someone they don’t know. “If a consumer receives a payment they do not recognize or has concerns about suspicious activity, contacting their financial institution is the appropriate step,” Zelle reportedly said.
Zimmerman shared a final update, allegedly ending the mystery. According to Zimmerman, he found out that the $3,100 for rent was real and someone had accidentally sent him the money. “And it turns out, I do know them. Because I’m a barber, and I have a ton of random people on my phone, [and] they have my contact,” he said.
Zimmerman claimed that the mysterious sender was a man named Joe, which made him contact all of his acquaintances saved in his phone with the same name. However, it turned out that Joe was saved as “Joseph” on his phone, which supposedly delayed discovery.
Zimmerman said he had received a message from Joe, saying, “I made a mistake. Can you please return it?” The TikToker jokingly called the message “bad news” for him since he had to return the money. “I really don’t think I’m on the positive net end of the karmic universal retribution system,” he said.
According to Zimmerman, he returned the money to Joe. However, it “wasn’t out of the goodness of my heart,” as he had to eventually return it since Joe was someone he knew and his client, before joking that he still “came out net negative” due to the stress the incident caused.
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