In this place, where people can barely have some savings, seeing your money disappear that way must have been quite traumatic for people and businesses alike.
Just another problem of centralization solved by Bitcoin, I guess.
Topic: A Bank of America Glitch Sent Customers Into a Panic Over Missing Funds - page 2. (Read 227 times)
January 19, 2023, 08:26:01 PM
I read about this today, very serious considering Zelle is an important payment processor here in my country.
In this place, where people can barely have some savings, seeing your money disappear that way must have been quite traumatic for people and businesses alike.
Just another problem of centralization solved by Bitcoin, I guess.
In this place, where people can barely have some savings, seeing your money disappear that way must have been quite traumatic for people and businesses alike.
Just another problem of centralization solved by Bitcoin, I guess.
January 19, 2023, 06:49:06 PM
Quote
On Wednesday morning, Bank of America customers began reporting issues with payments processed through the money transfer service Zelle, which led to money disappearing from their accounts.
Many customers took to Twitter to express their outrage as they began to notice the missing funds.
One user tweeted, “I almost lost my mind when I saw $2,000 was missing from my account.”
Another said, “So cool how @BankofAmerica magically disappeared a large Zelle transaction that HAD ALREADY POSTED and I had used to pay bills. Now I’m extremely in debt in my checking and I can’t get ahold of them. Unbelievable.”
Zelle is a money transfer service that works with U.S. banks to move funds directly from one bank account to another. Zelle transfers are quick and free––making the service a popular alternative to credit card transactions that can take a few days to hit users’ accounts and often require fees and bank transfers. However, the service has been under fire by government officials for being an easy facilitator for fraud and theft.
The website downdetector.com reported over 1,000 outage reports for Bank of America by 10:30 a.m. EST, coupled with a similar spike in Zelle outage reports.
Over a customer support social media account, Zelle redirected users to Bank of America, saying, “The Zelle App & Network are up & running. We are aware of an issue that is impacting Bank Of America customers when sending & receiving payments. We recommend contacting Bank of America’s customer support team for additional updates.”
Zelle does not offer any protection for payments made through their services—which means that there’s no safeguard for customers if a transaction goes wrong.
Bank of America told TIME that, as of 3:00 p.m. EST, the issue has been resolved and customers are receiving their funds back.
The Charlotte Observer reported that customers received a notice when they logged into their online bank accounts on Wednesday, saying that transactions were not missing, but delayed.
“Zelle transactions made between January 14th and January 17th may be delayed in occurring and posting to accounts as requested,” the notice said. “Transfers will be completed and will appear in your account activity and balances as soon as possible.”
In 2020, Bank of America customers reported another major glitch, with accounts showing inaccurate balances of as little as $0. The company acknowledged the issue, saying at the time that any inaccuracies did not impact their actual funds. “Some clients may currently see an inaccurate account balance in online or mobile banking. There is no impact to their accounts and their information remains secure,” Bank of America said.
Global payment service ACI Worldwide reported last year that fraud loss in the United States from Authorized Push Payments—scams that trick victims into willingly making large bank transfers to fraudsters—is expected to rise to $3 billion in 2026.
In a report issued last fall, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said four banks provided data reporting over 190,000 cases of fraudulent transactions on Zelle involving over $213 million of payments in 2021 and the first half of 2022. In the majority of the cases, the report noted, individuals were not repaid the amount they were defrauded. Zelle did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Warren called out both services on Twitter Wednesday afternoon, writing “@BankofAmerica and @Zelle are apparently failing customers again, with money somehow disappearing from accounts. This should be fixed immediately and customers should be compensated. I’ve called out serious fraud issues on Zelle and this is their latest failure.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-bank-of-america-glitch-sent-customers-into-a-panic-over-missing-funds/ar-AA16uJ5D
Many customers took to Twitter to express their outrage as they began to notice the missing funds.
One user tweeted, “I almost lost my mind when I saw $2,000 was missing from my account.”
Another said, “So cool how @BankofAmerica magically disappeared a large Zelle transaction that HAD ALREADY POSTED and I had used to pay bills. Now I’m extremely in debt in my checking and I can’t get ahold of them. Unbelievable.”
Zelle is a money transfer service that works with U.S. banks to move funds directly from one bank account to another. Zelle transfers are quick and free––making the service a popular alternative to credit card transactions that can take a few days to hit users’ accounts and often require fees and bank transfers. However, the service has been under fire by government officials for being an easy facilitator for fraud and theft.
The website downdetector.com reported over 1,000 outage reports for Bank of America by 10:30 a.m. EST, coupled with a similar spike in Zelle outage reports.
Over a customer support social media account, Zelle redirected users to Bank of America, saying, “The Zelle App & Network are up & running. We are aware of an issue that is impacting Bank Of America customers when sending & receiving payments. We recommend contacting Bank of America’s customer support team for additional updates.”
Zelle does not offer any protection for payments made through their services—which means that there’s no safeguard for customers if a transaction goes wrong.
Bank of America told TIME that, as of 3:00 p.m. EST, the issue has been resolved and customers are receiving their funds back.
The Charlotte Observer reported that customers received a notice when they logged into their online bank accounts on Wednesday, saying that transactions were not missing, but delayed.
“Zelle transactions made between January 14th and January 17th may be delayed in occurring and posting to accounts as requested,” the notice said. “Transfers will be completed and will appear in your account activity and balances as soon as possible.”
In 2020, Bank of America customers reported another major glitch, with accounts showing inaccurate balances of as little as $0. The company acknowledged the issue, saying at the time that any inaccuracies did not impact their actual funds. “Some clients may currently see an inaccurate account balance in online or mobile banking. There is no impact to their accounts and their information remains secure,” Bank of America said.
Global payment service ACI Worldwide reported last year that fraud loss in the United States from Authorized Push Payments—scams that trick victims into willingly making large bank transfers to fraudsters—is expected to rise to $3 billion in 2026.
In a report issued last fall, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said four banks provided data reporting over 190,000 cases of fraudulent transactions on Zelle involving over $213 million of payments in 2021 and the first half of 2022. In the majority of the cases, the report noted, individuals were not repaid the amount they were defrauded. Zelle did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Warren called out both services on Twitter Wednesday afternoon, writing “@BankofAmerica and @Zelle are apparently failing customers again, with money somehow disappearing from accounts. This should be fixed immediately and customers should be compensated. I’ve called out serious fraud issues on Zelle and this is their latest failure.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-bank-of-america-glitch-sent-customers-into-a-panic-over-missing-funds/ar-AA16uJ5D
....
Uncertain as to whether this is the type of publicity US banks and financial institutions need in 2022.
This is nothing new. There has been no shortage of this type of news over the last decade. I have a feeling that the majority of people who were once completely oblivious to these types of occurrences are becoming closer to news cycles and current events.
If banks in 2007 had a glitch like this one, the american people would not have cared. But things may have changed to a point where people are becoming much more savvy and connected to current events. In which case, I don't know if financial institutions want this type of negative publicity, considering the fallout could be more serious and widespread today than in previous eras.
These types of casual glitches also make it difficult for banking industry CEOs like Jamie Dimon to comment on crypto or bitcoin.
I hope people are aware of events like these and taking steps to adapt and prepare to our shifting economic climate.
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