Wells Fargo Bank inadvertently achieved certain notoriety as news of its fake account scandal spread throughout the media during 2016 and 2017.

The fake account scandal, blamed on unrealistic sales goals set and incentivized by bank management, motivated countless employees into opening millions of accounts without the prior permission of established bank patrons.

The fake account scandal had these employees opening not only bank-sponsored credit cards using personal information from existing bank customer records, but also agreements for services such as online bill pay—all without the necessary consent. Additionally, employees would open secondary checking and savings accounts.

The Wells Fargo fake account scandal spurred further investigation into the overall practices of multiple medium to large national financial institutions by the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC).

According to an article by American Banker, the OCC recently wrapped up a review of approximately 40 banks. The OCC review indicated that larger banking institutions were found to have a number of systemic issues at play that needed immediate correction.

Individual banks additionally had their own fake account scandal of sorts, but the OCC attributed these actions to random employee misconduct rather than being management-driven.

The OCC did not name the banks that were subject to its investigation, and it says it has no plan to reveal those names anytime soon. According to the spokesperson for the OCC, Bryan Hubbard, no formalized report will be released and he will not confirm whether or not banks like TD Bank, which along with others still could be among the 40 institutions investigated, will be issued memos with items that need to be immediately addressed.

Hubbard did say that most of the involved banks responded to inquiries and requests to strengthen polices and procedures going forward. With these strengthened, the American Banker article quotes him as saying, “As a result, systems and controls in these banks are now better integrated and more apt to identify inappropriate sales activities in a timely manner.”

Has a Fake Bank Account Been Opened in Your Name?

The Wells Fargo fake account scandal was eventually resolved with the institution agreeing to a $142 million settlement and other fines. Other agreements that were a part of the settlement included reforming sales goals so as to not encourage deceptive opening of fake bank accounts and unwanted services—all of which come with fees and can affect customer credit ratings.

Fake bank accounts can often be identified by unexplained fees unidentified withdrawals from an established account. Be sure to pay careful attention to the activity on your principal account as a deposit has to be made to a new account from an existing one to be set up.

Additionally, these unexpected withdrawals can put an account in the red, putting the account holder at risk for overdraft charges. These overdraft charges are also a potential sign of an unauthorized opening on your behalf.