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Three of the biggest US banks are facing a lawsuit for ‘widespread fraud’ on Zelle

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Graphic photo collage of a wallet.
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has filed a lawsuit against Zelle and three banks that own it — Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase — claiming they failed “to protect consumers from widespread fraud.” Zelle is a payment network designed to compete with payment platforms like Venmo and Cash App, but the CFPB says the banks “rushed” it to market, enabling fraud that’s cost consumers more than $870 million since it launched in 2017.

The lawsuit cites Zelle’s designs and features, including a “limited” identity verification process that involves assigning a “token” to a user’s email address or mobile phone number that they can use to verify their account with a one-time passcode. This setup makes it easier for scammers to take over accounts, as well as hide their own identities or pretend to be other institutions, the CFPB alleges.

Signup for Zelle is designed to be fast, easy. and frictionless. All users, including fraudsters, can generally register for Zelle if they have a deposit account and a US-based mobile phone number or email address.b. To register a Zelle token, users must verify only that they have access to the email address or phone number by entering a one-time passcode sent to that token from the participating financial institution. This level of authentication leaves consumers susceptible to fraud
CFPB complaint
Some of the problems the CFPB cites in Zelle’s design.

One of the most common Zelle scams involves bad actors impersonating a financial institution or a federal agency, who then trick customers into sending them money. After facing pressure from the CFPB, the banks backing Zelle started issuing refunds to victims of this type of scam last year. This latest lawsuit follows other CFPB actions to tighten regulation around digital wallet apps and payment networks.

The CFPB accuses Zelle and the banking trio of failing to track and quickly stop criminals on the platform, as they allegedly didn’t relay information about known fraudulent transactions with other institutions in the payment network. It also alleges Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo didn’t properly address the risk of fraud despite the “hundreds of thousands” of complaints they received.

Zelle pushed back on the lawsuit in a statement published on Friday. “The CFPB’s attacks on Zelle are legally and factually flawed, and the timing of this lawsuit appears to be driven by political factors unrelated to Zelle,” Zelle spokesperson Jane Khodos said. “The CFPB’s misguided attacks will embolden criminals, cost consumers more in fees, stifle small businesses and make it harder for thousands of community banks and credit unions to compete.”

The CFPB is asking the court to stop Zelle’s parent company, Early Warning Services, and the banks from violating consumer protection laws, and compensate users, among other penalties.