Bank Liability in Ponzi Scheme Cases
Here’s another example of where a major bank had to pay back a customer who lost money in a Ponzi scheme. You may not think the bank is liable, but if the bank allowed a scammer to access your money by not even following their own procedures, you may have some liability claims against that bank. Now granted, the bank is not the one who stole your money. They didn’t scam you out of your money. They’re not the fraudster. They’re not the person who ran the Ponzi scheme. They probably didn’t even know about it.
Negligence and Lack of Best Practices
However, if your bank left the door wide open for your money and the Ponzi schemer was allowed to take it because they didn’t notify you properly, they let the transfer happen improperly, or they didn’t even use best practices—simple things to protect you—they could be liable. That’s why we always talk about third-party liability.
Third-Party Liability in Scam Recovery
After a Ponzi scheme, online scam, or crypto scam, always look at what other third parties might be liable to help you get your money back, because the scammer may be hard to find. You may not be able to get all the money from them because they may have spent some of it. It may be expensive because they’re overseas. So, you might only get back half your money by going directly after the scammer, but you can get more of it by looking at third parties.
Class Action Against the Bank
And this was a class action. This wasn’t just one plaintiff. It was a bunch of people who sued Umpqua Bank to get their money back because the scammers used the bank’s open door policy. They used the lax enforcement procedures of the bank to make it easier for them to steal the money from these depositors.
Investigate Third-Party Responsibility
So, if you’ve had a loss, make sure that any investigation you do includes looking at possible third-party liability to help you recover your money.
