Capital One Zelle fraud class action:
- Who: A customer sued Capital One, claiming the bank didn’t disclose the security risks of using money transfer service Zelle.
- Why: The plaintiff says he and other Capital One customers were scammed through Zelle, yet the bank declined to reimburse them.
- Where: The case was filed in Florida federal court.
Capital One does not help customers who are scammed and exposed to fraud through money-transfer service Zelle, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
In a class action complaint filed May 2 in a Florida state court and removed to federal court in Miami June 1, Capital One customer Bernard Mensah claims the bank advertised the money-transfer service as being safe for its customers but was unwilling to help when customers were later scammed through the app.
In Mensah’s case, he says a fraudster who claimed he was a landlord and asked for $2,000 for a fake rental property scammed him.
Mensah transferred the money through Zelle. When he realized later that day that he’d been scammed, he says he advised his bank, Capital One.
While a representative initially told him he would stop the payment from going through, the next day he was told that the bank wasn’t able to put a stop payment on the Zelle transfer, according to the class action.
“Despite the plaintiff’s timely alerting Capital One of the fraud, Capital One refused to reimburse him for the losses,” the lawsuit states.
Capital One class action says Zelle has ‘huge, undisclosed’ security risks
Mesah says he is one of thousands of similarly situated customers. He says that banks and financial institutions like Capital One that use Zelle engage in “significant marketing efforts” to encourage their account holders to sign up for the service by marketing Zelle as a fast, safe and secure way for consumers to send money.
“This is false. In fact, there are huge, undisclosed security risks of using the service that Capital One omitted from its marketing push to get its accountholders to sign up for Zelle,” he says.
Mesah looks to represent anyone with a Capital One account who signed up for Zelle and incurred unreimbursed losses due to fraud.
He issuing for breach of contract and violations of business laws and seeking certification of the class action, restitution, damages, fees, costs and a jury trial.
Meanwhile, another class action lawsuit alleges Wells Fargo and Zelle fail to protect customers from scammers who use Zelle’s mobile payment app, and the Navy Federal Credit Union has also been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging it fails to properly inform its account holders that they will not be reimbursed for any financial losses caused by fraud on Zelle.
Have you been scammed through Zelle? Let us know your experience in the comments.
Mensah is represented by Andrew J….
Read More: Capital One class action alleges bank does not help Zelle fraud victims
