Wells Fargo Illegally Claims Customers Are Liable for Unauthorized Transfers, Say Victims of Bank Fraud, As New Class-Action Lawsuit Filed in Federal Court

Wells Fargo is facing a new proposed class-action lawsuit, accused of breaking the law by forcing customers to accept responsibility for unauthorized transfers.

The suit, filed by Jennifer Rice and Erik Westervelt in a Pennsylvania federal court, alleges Wells Fargo routinely violates the Electronic Funds Transfer Act by not reimbursing victims for their losses.

In December of 2023, the couple says they received a call from someone claiming to be from Wells Fargo who informed him that they had detected a fraudulent wire transfer on his account to the tune of $24,557.89.

The person on the phone said they could halt the transfer as long as he could confirm the six digit code sent to him via text message.

When Westervelt confirmed to code, the $24,557.89 vanished from the joint account via wire transfer to an unknown user at Discover Bank.

After realizing he had been speaking with a con artist, Westervelt immediately went to the local Wells Fargo branch to report what happened. The bank’s fraud department confirmed that the money had left his account and that they would be investigating the incident.

But after seven days, Wells Fargo called Westervelt and Rice to inform them they would not be reimbursed because they were the ones that “authorized” the transfer. The pair say they did nothing of the sort and claim Wells Fargo went back and forth multiple times between promising to reimburse and then reversing its stance.

The plaintiffs reference the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, which states,

“A consumer is not liable for any unauthorized electronic fund transfer unless such transfer was made using an accepted card for the account and the issuing institution has provided a means to identify the person using said accepted card.”

Westervelt and Rice and seeking statutory damages of $1,000 per class member, plus fees, costs and a jury trial.

 

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