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
Itโs a constant issue Iโve dealt with as well. Wells Fargo needs to get their crap together.
Why do u stay with them??
Wells Fargo committed the fraud on my account themselves for $5500
How do I join
They shouldnโt be forced to refund you because your too stupid to hang up the phone and just call your bank. The bank shouldnโt have to pay for your stupidness and lose money because your to stupid to realize your being scammed. Like lmao itโs not the banks fault. Itโs your fault and your fault alone. Never ever trust anyone who calls you stating theyโre from the bank. Always hang up and call them back yourself and speak with some one at your bank. And if your to stupid and fall for it deal with it and move on donโt expect to have your ass covered cause your dumb.
Wells Fargo does in fact call you about things like that and they do send a 6 digit code and if they have your information already they typically (the bank) says to trust it. If you do not know that it is not them because they are not acting outside their normal business routine for things like this then it is not your fault and need to be reimbursed. It is literally the law.
They usually do that code, I was scammed, instead of helping me resolve my case, got my account closed, and they also closed my credit card. Wells Fargo plays dirty.
My Son, who has a Wells Fargo account on numerous occasions has had to file a report for fraud and never reimbursed. Al they say is that the transaction is legit. At one point he was in South Lake Tahoe, California working and the transaction occurred in San Francisco, California. He was never refunded. My son is autistic. He trusts there word. When they tell him that nothing can be done. He believes it. Makes me so angry ๐ก
Why do u stay with them??
I am going through a similar situation, only wells fargo keeps giving out my card information to thieves. Iโve had to close my cards and cancel all direct payments on my account. they suck
Ever consider that the problem might be that someone has access (spyware) on either your computer, your phone or both? Get them scanned or youโll lose more than just your Wells Fargo stuff.
Wells Fargo Credit Card division did this to me. Over $500 in charges, I sent copies of of an airplane ticket, parking receipts, and other receipts showing I wasnโt in the state, they refused to reimburse me. I spent months trying to speak to my claims rep to find out why and she refused to speak with me. I re-opened the claim half a dozen times, they refused to speak to me, refused to reimburse me for the fraudulent charges.
I only lost $54 in a order for shoes that wasnโt filled..I got emails โwe are working on your orderโ until finally I canceled the order and the DSW agent said Discover Bank would refund it within 3 business days. It didnโt and I checked my April statement for the charge. It wasnโt there so a new scam is available to Big Crime โฆ just put the money on hold, donโt fill the order and voila!
The same thing happened to me, last march I received a call stating that a wire transfer was attempted. I told them it wasnโt me, we went though the whole fake โverificationโ process and he told me I was good. I received an email later that day saying my entire account was withdrawn through a wire transfer. I went to a Wells Fargo branch that day and told them to stop the transfer. They said to check back in 10 days. When I did they said there wasnโt anything they could do. It was $21,500
It clearly says in a text message that is sent out by Wells Fargo to verify the wire not to give it out to anyone and that Wells Fargo would never ask for it and so I think the people that gave the scammer the code or at fault
Correct. Says it on the text you get with the number. Like it or not, you AUTHORIZED the wire when you gave them the verification number.
Add me please. They allowed a stranger to cash a fraudulent electronic check for $7400 and didnโt notify me. I filed a police report as well. That particular account had not had a check written from it since I opened it in 1996. Plus it was my gas/food account so no transactions were over $500. Many red flags with the fake check too, so they should have notified me. WF said multiple times that it was clearly fraud and they would be refunding me within 7-10 days. Then corporate refused to refund me because it was over 30 days. Yet they still cannot prove in writing that they even have a 30 day policy. No branch manager had ever heard of the 30 days either.
I was frauded threw cash app and Wells Fargo put my money back into my account two days later
Please help me on knowing how you were able to get your money back I was scam through Wells Fargo to cash app well but they would not refund me my money told me it was my fault.
Add me to the Rice/Westerville lawsuit.