Some believe banks are not to be trusted with your money -- that between the size of a financial institution and the trustworthiness of its employees at every level, there's something about them that generates a sense of unease.
While not everyone agrees with that perspective,some of the news about certain banks in the past year certainly lent more credibility to those who prefer to keep their finances tucked away in a safe at home versus in a checking or savings account.
That situation was worsened on Wednesday morning as financial transactions service Zelle started to trend on social media, with many saying they woke up to find their bank accounts missing thousands of dollars or zeroed out entirely.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a vocal opponent of both Zelle and Wells Fargo over the past year, was quick to jump into the conversation via Twitter.
Warren's Campaign Against Bank Transgressions
Warren made a point of calling out Zelle for its transgressions and even went as far as to prepare and publish a report on the topic in October 2022.
While the target of that report was Zelle fraud, it also pointed at Wells Fargo
"Warren's report singled out Wells Fargo as a bank where Zelle fraud was particularly prevalent -- the number of fraudulent transfers rose 2.5 times between 2019 and 2022. The senator further said that the bank "attempted to mislead" by capping the data it provided in 2021," The Street's Veronika Bondarenko reported.
Wells Fargo called Warren's report "misleading and inaccurate," leading to Warren penning a second letter which called the Wells Fargo response dismissive given the "extraordinarily high and rapidly increasing instances of fraud and scams affecting Wells Fargo customers."
While there is a plan in place to reimburse customers affected by Zelle fraud, this newest problem has left users rattled, especially those that have experienced a form of Zelle fraud themselves.
