Bank employees may be in the best possible position to report fraud when working for an employer who appears to be involved in an illegal scheme. The news of Wells Fargo fake bank account scandal brought to light a number of concerns about bank employees opening unauthorized accounts on behalf of banking customers in order to meet sales quotas and targets.

Employees at Bank of America and other big banks may be able to blow the whistle on the bank where they work if their branch managers are asking them or encouraging them to participate in these kinds of practices. Numerous banks have been investigated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in an effort to weed out unauthorized accounts.

Employees working at any of the banks that might be under investigation, such as Bank of America, may be able to help protect consumers from fraud and unauthorized activity by taking a stand against these practices. Blowing the whistle might be one way to notify consumers about suspected unauthorized account activity and to curb the practice at an individual bank.

It was announced at the end of 2018 that Wells Fargo will be paying $575 million to settle allegations over fake banking accounts. That financial institution has also been ordered to pay over $1 billion in penalties, and the new settlement agreement requires the company to review customer complaints carefully.

That story landed in headlines around the world, causing many consumers to wonder other financial institutions like Bank of America could have been involved in the opening of unauthorized accounts.

Consumers affected by fake banking accounts may face unknown charges on their primary bank account or notifications on their credit report about accounts that they never opened.

Employees at banks play an important role in pushing these additional fraudulent accounts. In many cases, an employee is encouraged to ask a banking client numerous times about the opportunity to explore new accounts. One Wells Fargo employee, for example,reportedly phoned customers to persuade them to open new accounts. If the consumer did not expressly decline the offer, account applications were sent to them and new accounts were allegedly opened.

Some employees at other banking institutions want to stop this behavior and play a more proactive role in curbing this kind of fraud and abuse. Bank employees may be interested in blowing the whistle on branch manager and supervisor practices that encourage the opening of fake accounts.

Supervisors might directly tell employees to open accounts without customer consent, or the sales quota demands might be passed down in a more subtle manner.

Any employee who learns about a company request to use fake accounts could have grounds to be a whistleblower and take a stand against unethical behavior.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.