Wells Fargo – Article Review
This article was posted on www.cnn.com and www.news4jax.com on the 20th of October 2011.
According to the article, those who bank with Wells Fargo are double-checking bank statements after a mailing mix-up caused by a computer glitch sent some customers personal information to others. After opening bank statements, many found they had another customers account number and address.
Although the bank admitted it made the mistake, but customers that a national company with with millions of clients could make such an error. The Wells Fargo spokeswoman Kathy Harrison explained that the problem started last week Tuesday when customers across South Carolina discovered the problem, later on Wednesday night the bank learned it spread to northeast Florida, but still not really sure how big the problem is.
According to a victim who wants to remain anonymous, his statement actually had the front page of his savings account, account number, account name, with balance of $16.45 ; flipping it over to the next page it had different account number , different transactions and the balance stated his balance as $115,000 plus gaining a $115,000 overnight.
Some other customers just found out about the mishap and are worrying that their address, account number and names are in someone else’s hands without their knowledge.
Many customers have been stopping by at their various branches to see if there’s a solution to the problem, but some say they are not getting any answers from their bank
While Wells Fargo admits it made an error, the company does not believe customers are in any form of danger. As said by the spokeswoman, the customer statements are not designed to include Social Security numbers or any other personal information that can be misused, saying the bank feel very strongly that risk of identity theft is very low.
The company stated that the printer that malfunctioned and caused the glitch has been identified and is out of commission. Security Experts like Walton Eaton are warning everyone to be at alert and watch out for mistakes, also advising customers to contact their bank especially if they suspect anything and also should talk with their bank about their security policies and what they should do. Wells Fargo claims to be working on making sure this doesn’t happen again,