Zelle, a free app for transferring money between people, has the attention of lawmakers who say the app is failing to protect users who fall victim to scammers.
People can send money almost instantly via Zelle, but that convenience has made the app a target of fraudsters and scammers — and Zelle doesn’t always reimburse users who lose money due to unauthorized transactions, even though such reimbursements are required by law, lawmakers say.
“When things go wrong, Zelle and the banks are quick to blame the victim and allege that they failed to use Zelle as is, quote, unquote, intended,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said at a Senate hearing this week where lawmakers questioned Cameron Fowler, the CEO of Early Warning Services, the company that owns Zelle. Officials from Bank of America BAC , JPMorgan Chase JPM and Wells Fargo WFC were also at the hearing.