Consumer Action and Zelle® Bring Digital Payment Fraud and Scam Protection Training to Community Advocates in West Palm Beach

Florida marks the fourth stop on the hands-on multi-city tour focused on strengthening consumer protection at the community level

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Zelle® and Consumer Action continued their nationwide multi-city scam and fraud consumer protection tour in West Palm Beach, bringing hands-on training and tools directly to community advocates leading protection efforts.

The West Palm Beach workshop marked the fourth stop in the roadshow, continuing momentum from Dallas last month and earlier stops in New York City and Los Angeles last year. The train-the-trainer program gives local community leaders the tools they need to educate their communities on how to recognize, avoid, and report scams before money moves.

"When it comes to stealing money and identities, criminals target people of all ages and backgrounds," said Adam Klappholz, head of product for Zelle. "We’re working with local advocates to start real conversations in their communities – so people can spot red flags early and take action before they lose money."

Florida ranked number one in fraud reports and identity theft reports in 2024, according to the Federal Trade Commission. These crimes spanned across the state with the most reports occurring in South Florida.¹

Since its launch, the train-the-trainer initiative has taught over 100 community advocates across three U.S. cities, strengthening local capacity to protect consumers in an increasingly complex digital payments environment.

"The positive impact from our past events in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas provides momentum as we continue sharing our educational tools to help avoid fraud and scams in one city at a time," said Anna Flores, executive director of Consumer Action. "Feedback from our attendees has been extremely positive as they reported having shared and utilized the resources we provided them with their own communities."

The West Palm Beach event also included a session led by Dr. Jennifer Lawrence, DSW, LICSW, of FightCybercrime.org, a nonprofit organization created to meet the challenges facing those impacted by cybercrime. Lawrence shared guidance for advocates on supporting impacted consumers and highlighted how to identify ongoing scams, respond with care, and address the stigma and isolation often felt by fraud and scam victims.

Local organizations who attend the training events have the opportunity to apply for $1,000 grants that give them the necessary resources to host their own training in their communities.
 

About Zelle®

Zelle® powers fast, reliable person-to-person digital payments, moving more than $1 trillion between millions of consumer and small business accounts at United States banks and credit unions. Available through a network of more than 2,300 financial institutions, Zelle® enables people to send and receive money directly – without cash, checks or third-party apps. Zelle® is owned and operated by Early Warning Services, LLC, which works with America’s banks, credit unions and government agencies to drive prosperity, deliver bold innovation and improve how payments are made. Learn more at www.zelle.com.
 

¹ This data was provided by the Federal Trade Commission 2024 Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book.