Sep 19, 2019

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reviews Bank of America for fake accounts

Dion Rabouin

Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has opened an investigation into whether Bank of America violated federal law by opening unauthorized credit card accounts, American Banker reported Wednesday.

Backgrou In one document, a lawyer for Bank of America acknowledged the bank found specific instances of “potentially unauthorized credit card accounts,” American Banker reports, noting the lawyer said that the number of such accounts that had been identified was “vanishingly small.”

Details: In one document, a lawyer for Bank of America acknowledges the bank found specific instances of “potentially unauthorized credit card accounts,” American Banker reports, noting the lawyer said that the number of such accounts that had been identified was “vanishingly small.”

Flashback: Wells Fargo faced hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties, and ultimately criminal and civil lawsuits in the case reached $2.7 billion by the end of 2018.

Go deeper: Bank of America to stop lending to private prisons and ICE detention centers

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Joe Uchill

Credit card-stealing Magecart malware now infects 2 million sites

Over 2 million websites are now infected with Magecart, malware that allows thieves to steal credit card information, according to a RiskIQ report released Friday.

Why it matters: Magecart has become one of the most prolific threats to steal credit card information online. "2 million is a big number, and only getting bigger," Jordan Herman, a researcher at RiskIQ, told Axios via email.

Go deeperArrowOct 4, 2019
Courtenay Brown

Wells Fargo ends 6-month CEO search with an outsider hire

Wells Fargo said on Friday its new chief executive will be Bank of New York Mellon CEO Charles Scharf, effective Oct. 21.

Why it matters: It ends the bank's 6-month stretch without a permanent CEO. Several news outlets reported that the company had a difficult time finding someone who wanted the job, as it tries to recover from a slew of scandals and intense scrutiny from regulators.

Go deeperArrowSep 27, 2019
Joe Uchill

Massive pro-China troll response met Rockets GM's Hong Kong tweet

Photo: Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images

After Rockets GM Daryl Morey tweeted support for Hong Kong protesters, he received just under 170,000 angry tweets in response. But an analysis by experts at the Wall Street Journal suggests a massive chunk of the outrage came from a coordinated effort by sham accounts.

Why it matters: It's not immediately clear that the response effort was run by the Chinese government — though, at the numbers involved, that seems likely. But if it was a government-led effort, it marks a substantial change in China's modus operandi in dealing with global news events.

Go deeperArrowOct 17, 2019