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47of74

(18,470 posts)
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 03:54 PM Sep 2016

5,300 Wells Fargo employees fired for creating over 2 million phony accounts

Source: CNN

On Thursday, federal regulators said Wells Fargo employees secretly created millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts -- without their customers knowing it -- since 2011.

The phony accounts earned the bank unwarranted fees and allowed Wells Fargo employees to boost their sales figures and make more money.

"Wells Fargo employees secretly opened unauthorized accounts to hit sales targets and receive bonuses," Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said in a statement.

Wells Fargo confirmed to CNNMoney that it had fired 5,300 employees related to the shady behavior.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/08/investing/wells-fargo-created-phony-accounts-bank-fees/index.html?adkey=bn






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5,300 Wells Fargo employees fired for creating over 2 million phony accounts (Original Post) 47of74 Sep 2016 OP
Wow, that's a big number of employees. Good on Wells for firing, but how did it take so long? . .nt Bernardo de La Paz Sep 2016 #1
This message was self-deleted by its author busterbrown Sep 2016 #27
Whoa! PatSeg Sep 2016 #2
Wow Egnever Sep 2016 #3
Wow! How did those wily 5,300 naughty rascals run that scam with nobody in charge knowing about it? mpcamb Sep 2016 #33
Remember Office Space? Joanie Baloney Sep 2016 #4
Yeah never cared much for Office Space 47of74 Sep 2016 #11
That's why i love it! klook Sep 2016 #15
That's what happens when you reward people for body count and not results. n/t jtuck004 Sep 2016 #5
This RobinA Sep 2016 #39
I accused Wells Fargo of being a member of organized crime INdemo Sep 2016 #40
Employees act rationally to pad their income bucolic_frolic Sep 2016 #6
Exactly! Mme. Defarge Sep 2016 #17
Its more than that - its literally "keep your job" Ruby the Liberal Sep 2016 #18
But we don't need no stinkin regulation, according to repukes. nt rivegauche Sep 2016 #20
my ex HAD to hit targets on sign ups when she worked at Wells Fargo or lose her job Demonaut Sep 2016 #34
Fired?... freebrew Sep 2016 #7
Yeah they should. 47of74 Sep 2016 #8
it is fraud and theft. They should be prosecuted rurallib Sep 2016 #21
The greater issue is management and management incentives GeoWilliam750 Sep 2016 #25
Why anyone still banks at Wells Fargo or other major financial institutions is beyond me Downtown Hound Sep 2016 #9
Indeed. We use a credit union. Spitfire of ATJ Sep 2016 #24
I agree but ... aggiesal Sep 2016 #28
Always the small guys lsewpershad Sep 2016 #10
fyi Mosby Sep 2016 #12
Their they're, it'll be ok. lonestarnot Sep 2016 #38
They probably would have been fired if they DIDN'T do it... PassingFair Sep 2016 #16
Did someone mention "Free Scotch"? n/t aggiesal Sep 2016 #29
That's more than 1% of their work force. Daemonaquila Sep 2016 #13
And if Wells Fargo did it ... aggiesal Sep 2016 #30
Richard Pryor in Superman lll keithbvadu2 Sep 2016 #14
The article makes it seem like 5300 part-time tellers thought this up on their own. MindPilot Sep 2016 #19
I wish I could rec this post rurallib Sep 2016 #22
They should be tried, convicted, and thrown in jail. Who knows how many cards actually........ George II Sep 2016 #23
This probably happens often. I have been approached to open an account Thinkingabout Sep 2016 #26
be interesting to see if this creeps up the corporate ladder dembotoz Sep 2016 #31
This should be the very beginning of the investigation. Who exactly inspired this nightmare? truthisfreedom Sep 2016 #32
Riiiiiiiiight ProudToBeBlueInRhody Sep 2016 #35
i searched for the words "crime" and "prosecute" Enrique Sep 2016 #36
Oh, I'm sure the upper management had no idea about it!!! Quantess Sep 2016 #37

Response to Bernardo de La Paz (Reply #1)

mpcamb

(2,856 posts)
33. Wow! How did those wily 5,300 naughty rascals run that scam with nobody in charge knowing about it?
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 11:50 PM
Sep 2016

Gosh, they must have been really tricky.

Joanie Baloney

(1,357 posts)
4. Remember Office Space?
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 04:06 PM
Sep 2016

They devised a scheme to skim a fraction of a penny off of transactions to slowly make a ton of money. The programmer goofed with the decimal and they ended up skimming of a significant and noticeable amount over a weekend.

Perhaps these folks were hoping a fire would break out at all the Wells Fargos to save the day, as in the movie.

Morons.

-JB

 

47of74

(18,470 posts)
11. Yeah never cared much for Office Space
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 04:50 PM
Sep 2016

Maybe because it reminded me too much of the places I worked at.

klook

(12,134 posts)
15. That's why i love it!
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 05:27 PM
Sep 2016

Different strokes, i guess... although i have struggled with job PTSD at times myself, laughing at depressing and enraging things is one of my coping mechanisms.

RobinA

(9,878 posts)
39. This
Fri Sep 9, 2016, 08:16 AM
Sep 2016

Wells Fargo should be looking at its own policies. When you reward people, in fact pressure people, for generating numbers, they will generate numbers. I have been in the work place for 36 years and it always amazes me the incentive programs employers drum up that reward bad behavior. Not "who ever would have thought of that crafty scheme?" bad behavior, obvious, predictable bad behavior.

And I'm not excusing the employees, but when you tell or imply that people could be fired if they don't reach a certain number, they WILL reach that number. But you might not like how they did it.

I consider myself lucky that when I was threatened with firing if I didn't reach a certain number, a number that wasn't really under my control, although accounting for that number was, I had the option of going elsewhere without a major problem when my supervisor didn't seem to have a problem with how other people in my setting reached the desired number. Not everyone may find that as easy as I did.

INdemo

(6,994 posts)
40. I accused Wells Fargo of being a member of organized crime
Fri Sep 9, 2016, 08:26 AM
Sep 2016

when I quit banking there a few years ago. Looks like my theory was correct.
There is no way in hell that 5300 employees committed fraud and no one in management knew about it?
Several Wells Fargo Execs should be going to jail along with the 5300 employees that committed this fraud

bucolic_frolic

(42,681 posts)
6. Employees act rationally to pad their income
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 04:16 PM
Sep 2016

the company created this environment by providing incentives
for the employees to behave in this manner

Mme. Defarge

(7,982 posts)
17. Exactly!
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 05:39 PM
Sep 2016

What gets measured and rewarded gets done at the expense of the rest of the system. This is what happens when you treat employees like Pavlovian dogs by "incenting" them.

Ruby the Liberal

(26,217 posts)
18. Its more than that - its literally "keep your job"
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 05:42 PM
Sep 2016

If you are told that you have to open 10 checking accounts and take 35 credit card applications a week just to keep your job...

And it isn't a Wells thing. Every bank in the industry does this.

Demonaut

(8,909 posts)
34. my ex HAD to hit targets on sign ups when she worked at Wells Fargo or lose her job
Fri Sep 9, 2016, 12:07 AM
Sep 2016

Management created this environment

freebrew

(1,917 posts)
7. Fired?...
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 04:19 PM
Sep 2016

shouldn't they be in jail?

'Shady' behavior, my ass!

It's fraud. And who authorized this type of crap?
I doubt these 'employees' thought of it on their own.

 

47of74

(18,470 posts)
8. Yeah they should.
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 04:29 PM
Sep 2016

But of course our government thinks they're above the law and not to be touched.

rurallib

(62,346 posts)
21. it is fraud and theft. They should be prosecuted
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 06:09 PM
Sep 2016

Sure makes me wonder how far up the ladder someone knew what was going on.

Downtown Hound

(12,618 posts)
9. Why anyone still banks at Wells Fargo or other major financial institutions is beyond me
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 04:33 PM
Sep 2016

And no, I'm not blaming the victims here. But Wells Fargo and the other big banks have been caught doing so much crooked shit, I don't know why anyone would ever trust them with their money.

Switch to a credit union. I axed my Wells Fargo account more than 12 years ago and couldn't be happier.

aggiesal

(8,864 posts)
28. I agree but ...
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 07:33 PM
Sep 2016

the credit unions I've looked into are horrible Business Banks.

I use credit unions for personal banking.
I won't use them for Business Banking, until they get better.

lsewpershad

(2,620 posts)
10. Always the small guys
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 04:41 PM
Sep 2016

who gets the shaft. There bosses who are ultimately responsible get away scotch free

PassingFair

(22,434 posts)
16. They probably would have been fired if they DIDN'T do it...
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 05:31 PM
Sep 2016

I have worked in those kind of corporate environments...
If you don't meet your quotas you either get fired or don't
make any money or both.

I always kept my sales clean, but I didn't look down on those that
just went with the flow, sometimes at their manager's insistence.

I was always afraid that they'd use rule infractions as an excuse to
broom me if they decided they wanted to get rid of me, even if those
rules were ignored and skirted by everyone else.

 

Daemonaquila

(1,712 posts)
13. That's more than 1% of their work force.
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 04:58 PM
Sep 2016

Why should we be surprised by the incredibly dishonest banking industry, or by the actions of this notoriously dishonest bank? But of course nobody will shut them down. Why should any corporation be truly punished for this incredible level of fraud?

aggiesal

(8,864 posts)
30. And if Wells Fargo did it ...
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 07:36 PM
Sep 2016

who's to say that Citibank or Chase or any of the other major banks
are doing this as well?

Look at all of them!

 

MindPilot

(12,693 posts)
19. The article makes it seem like 5300 part-time tellers thought this up on their own.
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 05:47 PM
Sep 2016

There should be some upper level managers facing charges. If nothing else they breached their fiduciary duty to safeguard depositors' funds. The go-to solution for any corporate manager is fire the people involved, and walk away clean. That shouldn't be allowed to work this time.

Likely there will be former--and maybe even current--employees come forward to testify that this was not only tolerated but actively encouraged. I'm hoping for that impossible-to-deny video to surface of the meeting where managers are glad-handing each other over how thoroughly they fucked their customers.

ETA...Now I understand why--back when I banked with Wells--I could never get my checkbook to balance.

rurallib

(62,346 posts)
22. I wish I could rec this post
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 06:11 PM
Sep 2016

yep, someone with some access and knowledge had the idea first. Let's hope it is thoroughly investigated.

George II

(67,782 posts)
23. They should be tried, convicted, and thrown in jail. Who knows how many cards actually........
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 06:17 PM
Sep 2016

....went out to unwitting customers?

Plus, it's a form of embezzling, stealing those bonuses.

Thinkingabout

(30,058 posts)
26. This probably happens often. I have been approached to open an account
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 06:29 PM
Sep 2016

To allow an employee to make sales.

dembotoz

(16,740 posts)
31. be interesting to see if this creeps up the corporate ladder
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 10:49 PM
Sep 2016

doubt it

management protects management


lambs will be sacrificed
there will be speeches and the beating of breasts......
new mission statements
more online training and this and that

bonus after bonus will be paid for those who had to deal with the dishonest riff raff

truthisfreedom

(23,113 posts)
32. This should be the very beginning of the investigation. Who exactly inspired this nightmare?
Thu Sep 8, 2016, 10:54 PM
Sep 2016

And just exactly who were the victims? Have they all been informed? Who knew and when? Have all of THOSE people been fired? Or were just the underlings dismissed?

INVESTIGATE. This, btw, is exactly why we need regulation. Profits run amok.

ProudToBeBlueInRhody

(16,399 posts)
35. Riiiiiiiiight
Fri Sep 9, 2016, 01:09 AM
Sep 2016

And management knew nothing and never encouraged it.

A dozen workers is believable. 5300? Heh.

Enrique

(27,461 posts)
36. i searched for the words "crime" and "prosecute"
Fri Sep 9, 2016, 04:47 AM
Sep 2016

i didn't find them. Is grand theft no longer a crime?

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