New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued Early Warning Services (EWS), operator of Zelle, claiming the platform’s weak safeguards enabled scammers to steal over $1 billion between 2017 and 2023.
EWS is jointly owned by major banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Capital One, and Wells Fargo.
According to the lawsuit, inadequate registration verification allowed fraudsters to impersonate businesses or officials.
It also accuses EWS of slow fraud reporting, misleading advertising by calling the service “safe,” and failing to promptly remove scammers or reimburse victims.
Zelle mentioned it had 151 million users in 2024 and processed over $1 trillion. The irreversible transfers left many victims unable to recover funds, including one New Yorker who lost nearly $1,500.
Zelle began repaying victims of imposter scams in 2023 under government pressure.
The case echoes a prior CFPB lawsuit, which was dropped in March amid agency shake-ups.