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This is such a strange scam. Surely the amount of fees/person shouldn't be enough to move the needle on a company like WF, not to mention how the incentive could adequately spread around 5300 people (that's less than 400 accounts/person).

WF would have done better to be like the cable and phone companies and simply add mystery monthly fees to the bill. Hardly anyone would notice.

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As I read it, these sham accounts were opened by employees to meet various quotas, which are apparently based on accounts, not fee amounts.

This is true. A good friend of mine works at Wells Fargo, and has moved up the ranks from banker up to regional manager.

I never understood the pressure he was under to open new accounts. Not new customers, just new accounts for existing customers. For example, a new savings account to split your savings up into long term, vacation, college fund, home improvement.

As a banker he was supposed to open 40 new accounts a week, bare minimum.

One theory I had is that if you spread your money around like this, you're more likely to go below the minimums required, so therefore more likely to incur fees.

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