THE CEO of Wells Fargo plans on making banking apps more user-friendly.
Streamlining both in-person and online facilities, the company renovated 730 branches by the end of 2024.
1
During a meeting, Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf said: “The company has been working to refurbish branches across the country, with 730 banks being completed by the end of last year.
“We continue to make enhancements to our mobile app, including making it significantly easier to open accounts, and in the fourth quarter, over 40% of consumer check accounts were up additionally.”
Mobile customers grew by 1.5million last year, which is 5 per cent more than 2023.
According to the CEO, customers are using Zelle and the bank have more than $1 billion in sales transactions last year.
This is a steep increase of 22 percent from 2023.
Zelle is marketed as “a fast, safe and easy way to send and receive money with friends, family and others you trust” on its website.
However one Wells Fargo customer’s account was drained after she used Zelle.
Charlotte Stenz shared her painful situation in a TikTok video, where she informed her followers about a scam so they could be aware.
Stenz, who goes by Charlottestenz8, wiped away tears as she recorded the video in July from the parking lot of a Wells Fargo branch.
“I got a call from a Wells Fargo number, saying that I have fraudulent activity on my account and that a random person was being sent money from Zelle,” she began.
Stenz said the staggering amount the alleged person was receiving raised concerns.
“I never used Zelle, so this like freaked me out,” she added.
“They told me to go into my account and that I needed to secure my Zelle on my end by sending money that would go back into my account right after.”
Moments later, Stenz paused and broke down in tears again after realizing how sketchy the scammer’s details were.
“Looking back at it, I literally feel like an old person that fell for a stupid scam, like I feel so dumb,” she said.
“So, I did everything that they said to do, and they literally drained my bank account, and I felt like it was sketchy the whole time, but since it came from a Wells Fargo number, I trusted them.”
Stenz said she immediately went to the closest Wells Fargo branch and informed the employees at the site about her problem.
When she explained the situation to the Wells Fargo employee, the worker took her phone and spoke with the person on the other line.
“I lost my s**t, and I was balling to the poor lady at the desk, I said, ‘I don’t know if this is a scam or not,'” Stenz said.
“I explained the situation, and she took my phone and said something like can you verify your blah, blah, blah, and they hung up.
“At that point, I knew I was absolutely f**ked.”
Stenz said she eventually convinced the employees to sit with her and speak with their fraud department.
The department said they would dispute all the charges and inform her about the outcome in 10 days.
“It’s literally crazy how they’re able to use the same number. It was a Wells Fargo number, their 1800 number, so, I guess, just be aware,” Stenz warned.
