A Wells Fargo customer who was defrauded out of more than $30,000 by scammers has hit the bank with a lawsuit claiming its anti-fraud security controls are not fit for purpose.
Thomas Murrer, 35, was targeted by crooks who posed as Wells Fargo’s fraud department and tricked him into handing over personal information.
The scammers used this information to impersonate him and gain access to his accounts during a phone call to his bank, it is alleged. They drained his savings and maxed out his credit cards.
But when he later realized he had been the victim of a cruel scam, Murrer claims his bank refused to pay him back, forcing him to hire his own lawyer.
Court documents seen by DailyMail.com now claim that Wells Fargo’s systems indicated the fraudsters’ calls were coming from a non-Murrer number, but approved the transactions anyway.
Amazingly, the lawsuit also alleges that just three months later, the scammers called AGAIN from that number to pose as another Wells Fargo customer and regain access to their account. The bank says it is investigating the allegations.
Wells Fargo has been hit with a class action lawsuit over its lax security measures after multiple victims lost thousands to scammers posing as the bank’s fraud department.
Bombshell court documents seen by DailyMail.com claim the bank’s internal system indicated the scammers’ calls were coming from a number that wasn’t Murrer’s – yet they allowed the transaction to go through anyway
It comes just over a week after San Diego grandmother Judith Anderson revealed she lost more than $150,000 in an eerily similar upset. The money was intended to fund her husband’s hospice care.
The latest Murrer V Wells Fargo bank case, filed in the US Court Eastern District of Virginia on January 24, accuses the company of of “numerous, documented errors” in the “internal control environment, investigation processes and remediation protocols.”
It adds that this violates both Virginia common law and fails to comply with “commercially reasonable industry safety procedures.”
Murrer – who had been a Wells Fargo customer for eight years – was contacted by fraudsters on November 7, 2022. The number they called from was identical to the number listed on the website as the Wells Fargo Fraud Department, he claims.
The criminals were then able to force him to give them access to his account by using social engineering techniques such as “urgent demands, threats, existing processes and inconsistent statements.”
Wells Fargo has been hit with a class action lawsuit over its lax security measures after plaintiff Thomas Murrer lost $30,000 to a scammer posing as the bank’s fraud department. Last week, victim Judith Anderson (pictured with her daughter Tracy Martinez) revealed she lost $147,000 in a similar thrill
Once in his account, the scammers drained his savings of about $12,000 before requesting $23,000 in cash advances from his personal and business credit cards.
Lawyers point out that the victim has never withdrawn cash advances from his credit cards or sent transfers from his bank accounts.
On top of the initial losses, Murrer was hit with transaction fees of $450 and was forced to pay the monthly interest on his credit card debt since the scam occurred – a total of $3,700. His creditworthiness has also been damaged, his lawyers say.
The bank’s notes show that scammers claimed the transactions with Murrer’s wife were made to “get new lawn mower equipment” and “buy airline tickets.”
This is despite the fact that he has no wife and has never made a transaction to her alleged account in the eight years he was a customer.
Documents provided to attorneys by Wells Fargo show that bank employees did not directly contact the victim when the fraudulent transactions occurred because he was a T-Mobile customer. It is unclear why the victim’s mobile carrier influenced the decision.
Murrer visited his local branch on November 14 and confirmed that he had not authorized the fraudulent transactions.
Wells Fargo identified and confirmed the fraudulent activity, but he claims he was initially denied a refund.
The court alleges that the scammers who targeted Murrer were able to access another victim’s account months later, in January 2023.
It reads: “The same fraudster who called Wells Fargo posing as the plaintiff called Wells Fargo from the same phone number he used to commit the same fraud on yet another Wells Fargo customer in November 2022.”
Rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) require banks to reimburse victims of unauthorized electronic fund transfers (EFTs).
The agency’s Regulation E guidelines define an unauthorized transaction as “from a consumer’s account, initiated by a person other than a consumer with actual authority to initiate the transfer and from which the consumer receives no benefit.”
However, the definition of EFT notably does not cover electronic fund transfers, meaning banks are not forced to refund victims who lose money this way.
Still, Wells Fargo’s own card agreement states that the bank will not hold customers “liable for unauthorized use of their accounts.”
A spokesperson for Wells Fargo told DailyMail.com: “Wells Fargo just received the complaint and we are investigating the allegations.
“Wells Fargo invests hundreds of millions of dollars annually to combat fraud and scams. We want to help our customers avoid fraud and scams through a variety of means, including ongoing education efforts.”
It is not the first time that the bank has come under fire for its approach to fraud cases. Last week, Judith Anderson and her daughter Tracy Martinez went viral after sharing their fraud story.
Like Murrer, Anderson received a call from scammers posing as Wells Fargo’s fraud department, who forced her to give them access to her account and withdraw $147,000 from it.
She has since received a refund, the bank confirmed to DailyMail.com.