New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing Early Warning Services, the JPMorgan Chase- and Bank of America-backed company behind Zelle, alleging it knowingly launched the payment platform in 2017 without basic safeguards, enabling scammers to steal over $1 billion between 2017 and 2023. The lawsuit claims Zelle’s easy account registration, multiple email/phone “token” associations, and lax verification steps allowed widespread induced and account takeover fraud, despite the company being aware of millions of fraudulent transactions. Zelle disputes the allegations, noting that 99.95% of transactions are completed without reported fraud.

Via the Charlotte Observer