Judge Recommends Dismissing Scam Victim’s Claims vs. Wells Fargo, Chase

Though the court is “sympathetic” to Jillane Pope’s “plight” as a victim of text-phishing scammers, “the law is not on her side to recover her losses” from Wells Fargo Bank and JPMorgan Chase, said a report Wednesday (docket 2:23-cv-00086) from U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Pead for Utah in Salt Lake City in which he recommends granting the banks’ motions to dismiss Pope’s complaint.

Pope, a pro se plaintiff, received a text in October 2022 from someone impersonating a Geek Squad employee saying Best Buy had charged her its yearly service fee, said the judge’s report. What then transpired was “an unfortunate series of events” that led Pope to inadvertently wire $29,000 from her Wells Fargo account to another account at JPMorgan Chase that belonged to the scammers, it said.

Frustrated with what had occurred, the Salt Lake City resident filed a complaint seeking to hold someone accountable for her losses, said the report. Pope’s complaint was based on the premise that Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase knew that a theft was in process and failed to prevent the crime in violation of their alleged duties, it said. Pope’s experience “unfortunately is far too common in our modern society,” but there’s little the court can do to help her, it said.

The judge agrees with Wells Fargo’s arguments that Pope’s Electronic Fund Transfer Act claims fail because the EFTA isn’t applicable to wire transfers under the language of the statute and regulations, and because the EFTA doesn’t apply to in-person branch transactions, said the report. Her claims against JPMorgan Chase “fare no better than her claims against Wells Fargo,” it said.

The facts alleged in Pope’s complaint also “aver” that JPMorgan Chase “is liable for conspiracy because it knew a scam was ongoing, was warned of that scam, and despite those warnings, it did not stop the scam,” said the report. But nothing is before the court “establishing a concert of action or a meeting of the minds” between the individual fraudsters and JPMorgan Chase, it said. The allegations also fail to allege sufficient facts to state a claim for fraud against JPMorgan Chase, it said.

The report gives Pope 14 days after being served a copy to file any written objections to the judge’s recommendations. “Failure to object may constitute a waiver of objections upon subsequent review,” it said.