In light of the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal, lawyers are investigating whether other banks, including HSBC, may have followed the same practices. If your bank opened an account under your name without your consent or if your bank enrolled you in services without your authorization, you may qualify to participate in a fake accounts scandal lawsuit investigation.

Wells Fargo Fake Accounts Scandal

In 2016 and 2017, it was discovered that Wells Fargo had made a widespread practice of opening million of accounts under consumers’ names without their consent. This was done by employees to help them meet their sales targets and qualify them for bonuses.

After it was discovered that employees around the country were engaging in this unlawful practice, Wells Fargo was required to pay steep fines, as well as a $142 million settlement. Additionally, Wells Fargo agreed to change their sales goals to make them more realistic and hopefully discourage employee from opening fake accounts.

In light of the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal, federal regulators have launched an investigation into other banks to find out whether their employees opened fake accounts or enrolled customers in services without their consent. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reportedly investigated over 40 large and midsize banks to discover why fake accounts were being opened.

An OCC spokesman told American Banker that these unlawful practices had a number of causes, including “short-term sales promotions without adequate risk controls, deficient account opening and closing procedures, and isolated instances of employee misconduct.”

The regulators themselves did not name any specific banks they suspected of engaging in this unlawful behavior, but lawyers are now investigating a number of banks over this issue, including:

• Bank of America
• BOK Financial
• Capital One
• HSBC
• Royal Bank of Canada
• TD Bank

Customers can be injured by the practice of employees opening fake accounts because customers can be charged fees on accounts if the balance in a certain account gets too low, and or no funds or insufficient funds are in the fake account. This can happen without a customer’s knowledge.

In some cases, it takes customers a long time to realize that a fake bank account has been opened under their name because an employee will likely not notify them that the account has been opened. Additionally, consumers may not be notified if they are signed up for services on legitimate accounts without their consent and can be paying fees on those services for a long time while not realizing they are being charged.

For example, some Wells Fargo customers say that they were signed up for services like online bill pay and, as a result of the fees charged without their consent, had their accounts over drafted and were forced to pay overdraft fees.

If you bank with a major financial institution like HSBC and you have experienced some unexpected charges on your account, you may qualify for a fake account scandal lawsuit investigation. Some signs of your bank opening a fake account or enrolling you in fees without your account include being charged improper overdraft fees, bank fees, additional interest charges, and credit report charges from cards for which you did not sign up.