Wells Fargo fraud class action overview:
- Who: Wells Fargo is being sued by two of its customers.
- Why: The plaintiffs say the bank routinely holds its customers liable when they are defrauded.
- Where: The Wells Fargo fraud class action lawsuit was filed in a Pennsylvania federal court.
A new class action lawsuit alleges that Wells Fargo does not reimburse its customers when they are defrauded and suffer unauthorized electronic fund transfers from their accounts.ย
Plaintiffs Jennifer Rice and Erik Westervelt filed the complaint against Wells Fargo Bank National Association on June 17 in Pennsylvania federal court.
The two Wells Fargo customers say that when thousands of dollars were illegally stolen from their joint accounts with the bank, Wells Fargo repeatedly refused to reimburse them โ even though they should not have been liable for the losses under the Electronic Funds Transfer Act.
More than $24K taken from plaintiffsโ accounts
The plaintiffs say they have checking and savings accounts with Wells Fargo.
They claim that in December 2023, Westervelt received a call from a person purporting to be from Wells Fargo, who told him they had identified potential fraud on his account. According to Westervelt, the individual described the transaction as a wire transfer for โa large amount of moneyโ having come out of his account.
The person posing as a bank representative informed Westervelt they could stop the wire transfer if he could confirm the six-digit number she was sending him via text message, which he did, Westervelt says.
However, immediately thereafter, a wire transfer in the amount of $24,557.89 was made from Rice and Westerveltโs account to an unknown account with Discover Bank, the lawsuit states.ย
Realizing that the caller was likely a scammer, Westervelt says he immediately called Wells Fargo, and the representative he spoke with instructed him to go to his local Wells Fargo branch for assistance, he says. He says he went to the bank that day, and an employee from the fraud department confirmed that it had received his dispute and it would respond within ten business days.ย
Seven days later, he received a letter from Wells Fargo indicating that it would not reimburse any of the funds that were taken from the account because the transaction had been authorized by Westervelt.ย
Rice and Westervelt appealed the decision. The bank then went back and forth several times, promising to reimburse the funds then telling the plaintiff it had decided not to, before ultimately advising that it would not reimburse the funds.ย
Bank must reimburse under law, plaintiffs say
Rice and Westervelt say this is illegal because, under the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, โa consumer is not liable for any unauthorized electronic fund transfer unless such transfer was made using an accepted card for the account and the issuing institution has provided a means to identify the person using said accepted card.โ
As a result, the plaintiffs are looking to represent anyone in the United States who had funds electronically transferred from a Wells Fargo deposit account in the past year who did not authorize such transfer, and who notified the bank of the unauthorized transfer within sixty days, but were not reimbursed.ย
The plaintiffs are seeking certification of the class action, statutory damages of $1,000 per class member, fees, costs and a jury trial.ย
Meanwhile, another recently-filed Wells Fargo class action lawsuit alleges the bank aided and abetted a Ponzi scheme resulting in investor losses of more than $300 million.
What do you think of the claims in this Wells Fargo class action lawsuit? Let us know in the comments.
The Wells Fargo fraud class action lawsuit is Jennifer Rice et al., v. Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, Case No. 2:24-cv-02647 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
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188 thoughts onWells Fargo class action claims bank does not reimburse customers for fraud
My husband who is a deceased Vietnam Veteran have had fraudulent ATM transactions, Checking Account transactions, Savings and Retirement Accounts rejected over 15 years. I. Have all the records of the thefts and they closed all of out accounts and posted intentional fraudulent data to all the Credit Service Services of a loan that was paid in full and they wrote that it was a complete write off. They reported returned checks that were never returned to my account and are still calling me and harassing me on a daily basis. They leave voicemails and send letters and continue charging me for accounts that have been paid in full. My husband was a Disabled Vietnam Veteran who was scammed and they had a Power of Attorney and we lost over 60,000.00 dollars. My husband had Alzheimerโs and I am over 60 years old and they continue to do elderly abuse over and over again. They decided to close all of our accounts in February 2024 and demand payments and I try to pay but donโt have the account numbers and they refuse to give them to me and I am just trying to pay my bills. I have all the documents of the people we dealt with and they have all been fired. I have given all the documents about my Deceased Husband Death Certificate and they continously send me letters wanting more death certificates. I am been verbally, psychologically abused to the point that I can not eat, throw up and losing my hair. I am working with the Disabled Veterans Advocates to help me.
I had $9000 taken in two transactions. The Bank said that they had my back not to worry. I said thank you! 2 days later the Fraud Dept wrote me a letter, stating that I requested the transactions. I appealed the denial, with a letter and 3 packets of information and evidence. The day after I mailed it with a proof of receipt attached to it, they stated they had received it, read it and and thus wrote me another letter on their decisions. I have proof that they did not received the letter until 2 days later of which they stated they received it.
I was scammed the police are actively investigating the incident and Wellsfargo will not reimburse. I have video footage and everything. The worse part is the bank never took my supporting documents before making a decision. Iโd like to join the lawsuit.
Wire transfer was not flagged. 17,000 dollars
This is exactly what is happening to the 501c3 charity that I run. $11,274.72 was withdrawn, without authorization from the Wells Fargo Small business account and though Wells Fargo has admitted (reluctantly) that it happened, they refuse to reimburse the funds stating that the money went to Capital One and that Capital One is responsible. Capital One requested a Hold Harmless letter from Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo has refused to comply. As a result, hungry children went without food assistance all summer.
I donโt understand WHY Wells Fargo, and other banks will not return the money to their customers. All deposits are FDIC ( Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) insured. That means the Federal Government of the United States is assuring that the customers money is safe. And the bank isnโt taking a loss, at all. The only reason I can surmise. Is that the more money they have to return, yet donโt have to provide. They have to be accountable for. They have to prove that their institution is secure. And if itโs not, due to too many justified fraud cases. They will lose the FDIC backing. So instead of fixing their problem, they deflect it onto the customer. Thus making the victim a victim, twice. And the financial institution still looks good in the eyes of the Federal Government. This is one of the main reasons I will NEVER hold an account with WF, BofA, Chase, Citi, Discover, USBank or NFCU.
Please add me. Wells Fargo has frauded me in many ways even with their credit card.
This isnโt the platform to be included in the CALS. Read the full article. Look for the links.
I have a durable power attorney on a gentleman who is my friend of 43 yrs. He is 83. A Vietnam vet and not in great health. He has had 3 accounts at Wells Fargo hacked and money stolen. Right around 30,000.00. He is not savvy about scams and hackers. Each time he has had to close account and open new ones. We have gone through the bank and fraud department to no avail. The bank will not let me do anything. This is in AZ. Iโm at a loss on how to help him recover this money. Itโs all he has and needs it to live.
Visitor
The first account they took 4500. He closed it and they gave him his money back on it and opened a new account. This account was hacked and approximately 8600 was taken. That account was closed and a third account was opened. He was then in the hospital and received a text about zale transactions. Thatโs when I got power of attorney. We caught 30 transactions from zale in a matter of two days. Both days he was in the hospital. I contacted the bank. Took them the power of attorney and was given a number to contact account recovery. That is when we were told hackers were taken money out of savings transferring it to checking. Was told there was an address and phone number on his account out of Florida. They removed that from his account and opened a new one again. Was told that fraud would investigate. We received a letter stating the transactions were made on a secure online banking session by him or someone who had authority and closed the case. Not a penny given back to him. He not anyone he knows made all these transactions. Please, please hel
Victim of wire fraud between my account in Wells Fargo to a chase bank
I dealt with the same thing. $5500 through a legit-looking title company. I filed fraud charges with Wells Fargo and the local authorities. Wells Fargo refused to reimburse the fraudulent charges and the bank manager said the website looked legit. Anyway, they found the women who did the fraud because of my information. However, I doubt they will ever pay a dime. Meantime, whereโs my protection by Wells Fargo?