Feds sue Zelle, alleging that nation's biggest banks failed to stop fraud
CBSN
Three Major banks and Zelle rushed to bring a peer-to-peer payment network to market without first ensuring users would be protected against "widespread" fraud, alleges a lawsuit filed on Friday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo ignored customer complaints related to Zelle, with users losing hundreds of millions of dollars in scams, the regulatory agency alleges. Zelle is run by Early Warning Services, which is owned by the three banks named in the CFPB's suit, along with four other financial institutions.
According to the CFPB, bank customers have lost more than $870 million over the seven years Zelle has been in operation. Early Warning and the three banks named in the complaint hastily created the payments network to head off rival payment apps including Venmo and CashApp without adequately protecting end users, the suit alleges.
