Fake Checkups and Tax Opinions

Fake fake accounts!

You remember the Wells Fargo scandal, right? Wells Fargo & Co. had a big cross-selling push, where bankers were supposed to sell lots of products all the time. The quotas were high, the pressure was intense, and the bankers were miserable. So they would just sign customers up for products they hadn't asked for, to get their bosses off their backs. Often this was harmless box-checking: If you had a checking account, and a banker signed you up for online banking without asking you, she got credit for a product and you weren't affected one way or another. Sometimes customers were harmed, though: If a banker signed you up for a credit card without asking you, that could affect your credit score, plus the card might have a fee. Eventually regulators figured this out, and Wells Fargo paid some fines, and it became a big embarrassing scandal.