PRAIRIEVILLE - A sophisticated banking scam involving Chase Bank and Zelle has been making headlines for several years. It recently cost one Ascension Parish woman $1,900. 

Tara Warrior was duped by someone who claimed to be helping her stop a fraudulent payment when, in reality, they were the ones stealing her money. It all started with a text message.

The message was from a five-digit number and claimed to be from Chase Bank. It read: "CHASE BANK N.A.: Did you attempt a (ZELLE) payment for ($2,000) Reply (YES) if this was you. If this was not you reply (NO) and a call will be sent to you shortly thank you."

Warrior was at work when she saw the message. She typed "no" and hit send.

"Seconds later, my phone rang, it was Chase Bank," she said.

Or so she thought. The caller ID showed it was an 877-number. What unfolded next seemed legitimate. 

"He asked me to verify deposits, which I did," said Warrior.

While recalling the conversation, Warrior says the person on the other end of the line spoke calmly and clearly, and seemed professional. He told her his name was Charles Jennings and instructed her to open her Zelle account through the Chase Bank app, where he'd work with her to stop a fraudulent payment. Charles Jennings asked Warrior to plug in a 10-digit number to file a claim, and that would recover the money. 

"It added him to my Zelle account," she said.

She was placed on a 15-minute hold.

"He wanted to make sure that I would not be locked out of my bank online, and that is when red flags popped up in my head," she said.

She looked up a Chase Banking number and called it while on hold with the other person. She merged the calls and told Chase Bank she was being scammed and asked to stop all transactions.

While on the merged call, Charles Jennings hung up. Warrior remained on the phone with Chase Bank for an hour and was assured that fraudulent transactions would be credited to her account within 10 business days. Later that night, she watched as the payment went through. 

Warrior has since filed two fraud claims with Chase Bank, and they have both been denied.

"I reported it in the middle of the scam, I reported it live as it was happening, and they're still ignoring me, that's what's got me really ticked off," said Warrior.

Back to the 800-number that called following the text message. When you call it back, it's an actual Chase Bank number. The caller ID was fake. Warrior never suspected a scam until it was too late.

"I mean, who knows now," she said.

With her $1,900.50 gone, her trust is gone too. She's questioning Chase Bank's Deposit Account Agreement and whether it was followed in her case. Chase Bank was unable to comment. 

The agreement states that if Chase Bank suspects that you may be a victim of a fraud, scam, or financial exploitation, even though you have authorized the transaction(s), they have the right to block or delay transactions. Warrior claims this protocol was not followed in her case.

Chase Bank says while it does send text messages to customers to confirm whether certain transactions are fraudulent, its standard process is to ask customers to call them using the number on the back of their debit or credit card. Chase Bank advises customers not to respond to phone, text, or internet requests for money or access to computer or bank accounts. Banks will never call, text, or email asking for you to send money to yourself or anyone else to prevent fraud. If you receive a call from someone claiming to be from your bank, the best thing to do is hang up and call your bank at the number on the back of your debit or credit card. Report incidents to the FTC here.