Wells Fargo illegally claims liability for unauthorized transfers from its customers, bank fraud victims say as new class action lawsuit is filed in federal court

Wells Fargo is facing a new class action lawsuit accusing the company of breaking the law by forcing customers to take responsibility for unauthorized transfers.

The lawsuit, filed by Jennifer Rice and Erik Westervelt in federal court in Pennsylvania, alleges that Wells Fargo routinely violates the Electronic Funds Transfer Act by failing to reimburse victims for their losses.

In December 2023, the couple said they received a call from someone claiming to be from Wells Fargo telling them that a fraudulent transfer of $24,557.89 had been discovered in their account.

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

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

When Westervelt realized he had spoken to a scammer, he immediately went to the local Wells Fargo branch to report the incident. The bank’s fraud department confirmed that the money had left his account and that they would investigate the incident.

But after seven days, Wells Fargo called Westervelt and Rice and told them they would not receive a refund because they were the ones who “authorized” the transfer. The two say they did nothing of the sort and claim Wells Fargo repeatedly went back and forth between promising a refund and then reversing its stance.

The plaintiffs point to the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, which states:

“A consumer is not liable for unauthorized electronic funds transfers unless the transfer was made using a card accepted for the account and the issuing institution provided a means of identifying the person using the accepted card.”

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

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