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My Highest-Earning NewsBreak Story in December was About Zelle Fraud

$870 million in fraud seems to get people’s attention

Andy Spears
2 min readJan 6, 2025
Photo by Rubaitul Azad on Unsplash

While Zelle — a bank-based platform allowing users to transfer money directly between bank accounts — seems easy and convenient, it is also a hotbed for fraud.

Over a seven year period, Zelle saw $870 million in fraud on the platform — either fraudulent transactions or, more commonly, users falling victim to fraudulent schemes.

Zelle is run by the big banks — Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo.

While other payment platforms take some affirmative steps to protect users who are victims of fraud, Zelle isn’t so zealous.

In fact:

JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo reimbursed just 38% of fraud claims on the Zelle platform, according to a July Senate report that looked at disputed unauthorized transactions.

Not great.

And banks aren’t really stepping up to make changes, either.

The banks make a lot of money by offering this seemingly carefree service.

The lack of fraud protections leaves customers high and dry, but means more money for the banks that already have a lot of the money.

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Andy Spears
Andy Spears

Written by Andy Spears

Writer and policy advocate living in Nashville, TN —Public Policy Ph.D. — writes on education policy, consumer affairs, and more . . .

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