Greg's Corner

Scam victims sue bank for failing to protect accounts

By Greg Collier

In the past year or so, some of the nation’s largest banks have been notoriously ambivalent when it comes to helping their customers who have been scammed. For example, many of the victims who were scammed through Zelle have been told their money can’t be recovered since the customer authorized the transfer. Although, some of the victims have gotten reimbursed after going to their local media.

One bank that seems particularly obstinate in helping their customers is Chase bank. A number of incidents have been reported in the media lately where Chase customers have been scammed in a similar way to the Zelle scam. Chase customers have reported receiving phone calls that appear to come from Chase, but are spoofed calls from scammers. The scammers tell the customer there’s been some kind of fraudulent activity on their account before getting the customer to transfer the money in their account to the scammer. This is typically done through the guise of ‘protecting’ the customer’s account. Not only has Chase refused to assist some customers, but in at least one instance have accused the customer of being the scammer themselves.

Now, two customers from the Dallas area have decided to take Chase to court. One of the customers lost $51,000 in a tech support scam. She went to her local Chase branch for assistance, and they allegedly told her that the transfer was caught in time, and she won’t lose the money. A few weeks later, the money was gone from her account.

The other victim lost $3500 to a fake Chase representative who also claimed they were trying to protect the account. This caller was said to have the customer’s account information already. Like the first customer, she went to her local Chase branch and closed her account and opened a new one. She was told the bank would launch a fraud investigation. A week later, she was told the claim was denied since she authorized the transfer.

So, even after notifying the bank of the scams and being told the transfers have been caught, Chase allegedly failed to protect their customers. Instead, they’re unintentionally, at least, supporting the scammers.

While you may have been a loyal customer to your bank for decades, these days, most of us are just numbers to them. They’re not in the business of trying to protect you. If you receive a call from your bank asking about fraudulent charges, hang up, and call them back at their customer service number from the back of your debit card. If you receive a text message, don’t respond. Instead, call your bank or go to your local branch.