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Zelle consumer class action overview:
- Who: A Zelle customer filed a class action lawsuit against the company.
- Why: The plaintiff claims the company does not do enough to protect customers from fraudulent activity on Zelle’s digital peer-to-peer payment platform
- Where: The lawsuit was filed in California federal court.
Zelle is the latest company to be hit with a consumer class action lawsuit amid a string of lawsuits alleging company owners do not declare or mitigate the security risks of using the payment transfer service owned by seven of the largest banks in the United States.
Plaintiff Dele Hope filed the lawsuit July 7 against Early Warning Services LLC, also known as Zelle, in a California federal court, alleging violations of consumer laws.
According to Hope, Zelle encourages bank account holders to sign up for the service by marketing itself as a fast, safe and secure way for consumers to send money.
However, this is false, he says.
“In fact, there are huge, undisclosed security risks of using the service, including from fraudsters who regularly exploit the service,” Hope alleges.
“Zelle’s marketing representations never inform users that consumers — not Zelle or the banks through whom money is transferred — bear the full risk of these grave security and fraud threats,” the class action states.
Zelle class action alleges money not reimbursed after fraud
The class action states Zelle is fully aware there is a major fraud problem on its platform and that the banks that own it almost never reimburse victims of Zelle fraud for their losses.
In Hope’s case, he was defrauded by a scammer out of $395 in 2020. Hope used Zelle to transfer the scammer the money. When he realized he had fallen victim to fraud, he immediately informed his bank, but his bank refused to reimburse him for the losses.
As a result, Hope is seeking damages, restitution and an injunction to prevent Zelle and member banks from continuing to engage in its allegedly illegal practices.
He looks to represent anyone who signed up for Zelle and incurred unreimbursed losses due to fraud plus a California subclass.
He seeks certification of the class action, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial.
This is the latest in a string of class action lawsuits recently filed against financial institutions, including TD Bank, that are accused of not protecting account holders who were financially injured after being defrauded while using the digital peer-to-peer payment platform Zelle.
Last month, a Seattle resident who filed a class action lawsuit alleging Wells Fargo and Zelle failed to protect customers from scammers who use Zelle’s mobile payment app dropped his claims.
Has your bank refused to reimburse you after you suffered financial losses due to fraud on Zelle? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiff is represented by Edelsberg Law PA and Kalielgold PLLC.
The Zelle class action lawsuit is Dele Hope v. Early Warning Services LLC, Case No. 2:22-cv-04639, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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991 thoughts onZelle class action alleges company erroneously advertises as safe, secure
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Lost $1,700 to a person for service to my vehicle and the service was never done! Chase bank refuses to help me get my money back! Chase said that Zelle is only for sending money to family and friends which is not what is advertised. It states use Zelle to send money to anyone who has a bank account!!
We paid $350 through my bank (Bank of Stockton in California) using Zelle as it is used by this bank which has been around since the 1800’s, so I figured it’s safe. The $350 was to adopt a kitten on Craigs List and everything seemed to be legitimate. Boy was I wrong. Once they got the $350 they asked for $550 more for a special cage for the flight here. At that point I knew that I was scammed and asked for my money back. Good luck to me…the seller vanished. When I contacted my bank, they said that I should not have used Zelle for that transaction. I pointed out that nothing on the bank’s secure website where I log into my account said anything about not using it for certain transactions and why is it advertised on the website?
I would love to join any class action against Zelle and all banks involved. I personally will never use Zelle again and I will tell all of my friends and family not to use it.
A fraudster told me he was from a big jewelry store in NJ and sold me a watch that never came. I sent him $10000 through Zelle because I was told I had protection. I filed a police report and contacted Chase and they told me they would look into it. Now after an “investigation” they told me there was nothing they could do since I made the payment myself. Please help me!
Had an issue with unauthorized Zelle transactions with my USAA account. The financial institution refused to refund the hundreds stolen and stated that the disclaimer when authorizing transactions states that transactions cannot be reversed once submitted. This shouldn’t apply when I did not authorize the transactions and it can easily be verified via IP address and location where the transactions was initiated. Closed the account and refuse to use Zelle ever again.
Yesterday I was scammed out of $500 after calling a number I thought was customer service. They said they were helping me set up payment on my website and claimed they were doing a “demo” transfer via Zelle. They ended up asking me to transfer $500 to this “demo” account. While I was in the phone with them, I realized what was happening and called the bank to tell them of the fraud. Chase said they had no way of reclaiming the money once it’s sent, but they blocked a de donde attempt. They said I am liable for the money and being scammed because it is through Zelle. Please add me to the lawsuit.
I would like to be added to the zelle lawsuit I am with U. S. Bank I try to stop it I notify them and they still told me they cannot assist me with any help on a refund and now I am out $800.
First Merchants Bank allowed a fraudster to rob me of $400 even though they were notified while the scam was in progress. Zelle requires a U.S. bank account so the bank should be liable for not securing.
Please add me, zelle/chase
My zelle recipient gave me the wrong cell number. The mistake was immediately recognized and notified Bank Of America, (my bank) right away. They told me they would investigate but there’s no guarantee I would get my money back. I could not believe there was no name/phone number cross reference system in place or any other corrective action in place???A simple notifiction would have probably worked. Wells Fargo was the recipient’s bank. Please sign me up for the class action suit.