Bitcoin News Australia

If you’ve ever traveled abroad, then you know that figuring out the local tipping etiquette can be tricky.

But what happens when that uncertainty follows you home?

Americans are dealing with exactly that, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.

The rise of “tipflation” has meant iPads popping up seemingly everywhere asking us if we want to add a tip. And with new tipping expectations comes a lot of confusion for consumers.

In its survey of 12k US adults, Pew found that:

• 72% say tipping is expected in more places today than it was five years ago.
• 40% oppose businesses suggesting tip amounts to their customers.
• 72% oppose businesses including automatic service charges or tips on bills.

And Americans are split on whether or not they even need to tip: 21% say tipping is a choice, 29% say it’s an obligation, and 49% say it depends on the situation.

That’s leading to a lot of confusion

Only 34% of Americans think it’s extremely or very easy to know whether they need to tip at all, and only 33% say the same about knowing how much to tip.

What most — 77% — seem to agree on is that the quality of service they receive is a major factor in deciding how they’ll tip.

Respondents say they tip when:

• Eating at a sit-down restaurant (92%)
• Getting a haircut (78%)
• Ordering food through a delivery app (76%)
• Buying a drink at a bar (70%)
• Using a taxi or ride-share service (61%)

But there are plenty of gray areas: Only 25% tip when grabbing coffee, and just 12% report tipping at fast-casual restaurants.

And while most agreed that tipping at a sit-down meal is the right thing to do, customers are divided on the amount.

The majority (57%) tip 15% or less at a restaurant, while only a quarter say they’d tip 20% or more.

One last thing: For the 2% who said they never leave any tip at sit-down restaurants — we’re in a fight.

Following pressure from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), banks will now refund customers scammed by fraudsters pretending to be a government agency, bank, or service provider on Zelle.

Zelle is owned by Early Warning Systems (EWS), which is owned by seven banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.

The app allows transfers between banks, which feels more secure than sending money into the ether. People assumed that the banks would have their backs if something went awry, per TechCrunch in 2018.

They were wrong

Imposter fraud on Zelle might look like this: A scammer advertises concert tickets on Craigslist. The victim agrees to buy them and transfers payment. The scammer disappears, shutting down their bank account without sending the tickets.

Federal law requires banks to reimburse customers who are scammed without authorization — e.g., via a hack — but not customers who are tricked into voluntarily making a transaction.

The banks argued that if they repaid these victims, it would only encourage more scammers.

Oddly enough, this is what J. Paul Getty — then the richest man in the world — said in 1973 when kidnappers held his grandson for ransom, refusing to pay until they sent his grandson’s severed ear to a newspaper.

How bad is scamming on Zelle?

Zelle reported $629B in payments in 2022, 99.9% of which were processed without any fraud reports.

But US lawmakers found Zelle had lost an estimated $440m to fraud in 2021, per Reuters, and that was enough to get them concerned.

So, EWS:

• Now requires banks to flag any suspicious transfers — e.g., those tied to accounts that have no prior transactions
• Still won’t require banks to just refund victims. Instead, it developed a way for banks to claw the money back from shady recipients.

Expect more on all of this next month, when there’ll be a Senate hearing.

If you’ve been scammed, you can report it on Zelle’s website.