$870M in Zelle fraud losses spark lawsuit against platform, 3 major banks

Zelle payment app opened the door for crooks and con artists to steal hundreds of millions of dollars , the CFPB says.

The agency sued Bank of America , JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo over Zelle -related fraud losses.

Zelle disputes that figure, saying many reported fraud claims are not found to involve actual fraud after investigation.

Watchdog group PIRG calls CFPB 's legal action "important step in holding payment systems accountable for enabling fraudulent and unauthorized payments" Zelle is co-owned by seven big banks Bank of America , Capital One , Chase , PNC Bank , Trust , U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo .

Regulators are not suing the other banks that co-own Zelle transactions.

Zelle is embedded in the mobile apps of Bank of America , Wells Fargo and Chase .

The CFPB says Zelle 's marketing and branding "exploited consumers' perceptions of reliability and security" A Zelle spokesperson says the lawsuit will hurt consumers, small businesses, community banks, minority-owned banks and credit unions.

Zelle says it reimburses customers for certain types of scams where customer authorized transaction.