Wells Fargo Fake Accounts

Wells Fargo employees opened 3.5 million unauthorized accounts to meet aggressive sales quotas, revealing a toxic culture that undressed cross-selling at any cost. This scandal, surpassing #7’s average fraud by size, triggered $3 billion in penalties and a customer exodus. Compared to WorldCom’s top-down fraud, Wells Fargo’s misconduct was bottom-up, affecting 2 million more accounts than initially reported. The scandal led to a 30% drop in consumer trust for the bank.