In recent years, it has been found that a number of banks and credit unions have had issues with employees opening fake bank accounts on behalf of their customers.

If you’ve heard of an issue with fake bank accounts, you probably heard of the Wells Fargo scandal specifically. Indeed, the issue made headlines in 2016 and 2017 when it was found that Wells Fargo employees had opened millions of false bank accounts in their customers’ names.

Why would so many employees do this? It became apparent that the sales culture of the bank was at fault, and necessary sales targets set for employees were high enough that employees were incentivized to open fake accounts in order to qualify for certain bonuses.

Indeed, a total of around 3.5 million fake credit card and bank accounts were opened by Wells Fargo employees during this period in order to tip their sales numbers higher. Unfortunately, this meant close to 190,000 customers were charged additional fees like overdraft and interest on accounts they did not authorize in the first place.

Since the scandal, Wells Fargo has reached a settlement agreement worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and has also agreed to lower unrealistic sales goals to take away employee incentive to create these falsified accounts.

Bank Fraud Awareness

So how do you make sure your bank or credit union isn’t opening up fake accounts in your name, or signing you up for services without your knowledge? Keep an eye out for any suspicious activity.

If, for example, you are a customer of TD Bank—one of the banks included in an ongoing investigation by private consumer rights attorneys—you may be clued into the fact that an unauthorized TD bank account has been opened in your name if you start noticing suspicious changes to your credit report.

Additionally, if you were charged overdraft fees or interest that you did not expect, this could mean that the fees are coming from an account you never created in the first place. The same goes for credit cards created without authorization.

It is suggested you talk to your banker and ensure you understand how your account works.

Filing a Fake Bank Account Lawsuit

In response to the Wells Fargo scandal, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) launched an investigation into dozens of banks across the country, finding that many banks had issues with the creation of fake bank accounts. However, the OCC has not released the names of these banks—and it doesn’t plan to.

A group of attorneys, however, are working together to investigate potential fake bank account practices at a number of major banks and financial institutions, including TD Bank and others like Bank of America, Capital One and HSBC.

If one of the banks listed above is yours and you were subjected to overdraft fees or interest on an account you did not open, you found yourself enrolled in services you did not sign up for, or you were issued a credit card without requesting one, you may be able to join this class action lawsuit investigation and pursue compensation.