‘Zelle Became A Gold Mine For Fraudsters’: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Lawsuit (UPDATED)

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with comment from Zelle and Bank of America.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued three of the nation’s largest banks and the operator of Zelle last week, alleging a failure to protect consumers from widespread fraud on the peer-to-peer payment network, resulting in customer losses of more than $870 million since 2017. 

The Details: The CFPB’s lawsuit alleges that JP Morgan Chase & Co. JPM, Wells Fargo & Co. WFC, Bank of America Corp. BAC and Early Warning Services rushed to complete the Zelle payment network in order to compete with Venmo and CashApp and neglected to enact effective fraud safeguards.

Read Next: Waymo’s Autonomous Vehicles Are Safer Than Human Drivers: Report

“The nation’s largest banks felt threatened by competing payment apps, so they rushed to put out Zelle,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “By their failing to put in place proper safeguards, Zelle became a gold mine for fraudsters, while often leaving victims to fend for themselves.”

The lawsuit further alleges that the banks “systemically failed” their customers by failing to properly investigate customer complaints or share information on known acts of fraud which allowed bad actors to hop between banks and commit repeated fraudulent transactions. 

Zelle told Benzinga in an emailed statement that it sees the CFPB’s lawsuit as politically motivated and  “legally and factually flawed.” Zelle said it “leads the fight against scams and fraud” and that its reimbursement policies exceed those required by law.

“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,” said Jane Khodos, Zelle spokesperson.

A Bank of America spokesperson told Benzinga that more than 99.5% of Zelle transactions go through without incident and when an issue arises, the bank works directly with the customer to resolve it.

“We strongly disagree with the CFPB’s effort to impose huge new costs on the 2,200 banks and credit unions that offer the free Zelle service to clients,” Bank of America added.

Benzinga also contacted JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Early Warning Services for comment on the lawsuit.

JPMorgan told CBS News that the CFPB has a “political agenda,”and the agency is “overreaching its authority by making banks accountable for criminals, even including romance scammers.”

The CFPB said its lawsuit aims to stop the banks’ alleged unlawful practices, secure penalties for the violations and obtain other relief for consumers. 

“The banks failed to fix glaring flaws in their systems even as hundreds of thousands of customers filed complaints about fraud,” Chopra said in a statement.

“The banks knew their customers were having their money stolen, but since they weren’t bearing the cost of these losses themselves, they dragged their feet on fixing the problems,” he added. 

Read Next: 

Image: Shutterstock.