Before the Claim: What Banks and Insurers Cover (2026)

What your protection actually covers

The law is clear on one point: the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, implemented through Regulation E, requires your bank to reimburse an unauthorized electronic fund transfer — one initiated by someone other than you, without your authority. That protection is real, and it extends further than many people expect: Regulation E's own definition covers transfers made using account information obtained through fraud or robbery. But it is built around a single word — authorized — and that word is exactly where manipulation fraud lives: when you yourself approve the transfer, convinced by someone impersonating your bank, a relative, or a government agency.

This is not a marginal case. Customers of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo alone lost more than $870 million to fraud on the Zelle network since its 2017 launch, and the three banks collectively reimbursed only about 38% of fraud claims, according to a Senate report cited in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's December 2024 lawsuit against Zelle's operator and the three banks. The core dispute in that lawsuit is definitional: banks classify what customers call fraud as a "scam" — a transaction the customer technically authorized — which is not the same thing, under current law, as an unauthorized transaction.

Three words that decide everything

In any policy or federal protection, these three concepts — not the marketing name — determine what is actually covered:

Authorized vs. unauthorized Regulation E protects unauthorized transfers strongly (liability capped at $50 or $0 if reported promptly). A transfer you approved yourself, even under deception, is generally treated as authorized — outside that federal guarantee.

Eligibility criteria Zelle's "imposter scam" reimbursement, run by Early Warning Services, applies only to specific scam categories (e.g. someone impersonating your bank). The full list of qualifying scenarios has not been published.

Exclusion A scenario explicitly carved out of a plan's coverage regardless of the loss amount. Identity-protection plans routinely exclude money you send voluntarily, even under false pretenses.

What they write, in plain terms

We reviewed the official public statements of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Zelle network, one of the three largest US retail banks, and a leading identity-protection plan, on manipulation fraud specifically:

Organization / framework	Product or rule	Displayed price	Consumer liability cap	What's excluded
Regulation E (EFTA)	Federal unauthorized-transfer protection	n/a — federal law	$50–$0 if reported promptly	Transfers the consumer authorized, even while deceived, are generally not treated as "unauthorized" under current federal law
Zelle / Early Warning Services	"Qualifying imposter scam" reimbursement (policy, not law)	n/a — network policy	not published	Only specific impersonation scenarios qualify; full eligibility criteria undisclosed; "typically... won't get it back" for most other scam types, per Chase's own guidance
Chase (JPMorgan Chase)	Security Center — Zelle guidance	n/a — bank guidance	n/a	"Treat Zelle, checks, wires, cashier's checks, transfers, gift cards and crypto like cash. Once scammers get the money, you probably won't get it back."
Allstate Identity Protection	Essentials plan	$9.99/mo	up to $50,000 reimbursement (Essentials)	voluntary transfers to a scammer, even under false pretenses, are treated as a scam, not identity theft, and are not reimbursed
Allstate Identity Protection	Blue plan	$19.00/mo	up to $1,000,000 reimbursement (Blue)	same exclusion as Essentials — voluntary transfers not covered
Egidio	Detection and blocking	$29.99/yr	sans objet	does not reimburse — acts before the transfer is approved

Sources, captured 30/07/2026 — CFPB, Regulation E FAQs · CFPB v. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo (Dec. 2024) · Zelle, About Zelle FAQ · Chase, Scam Watch · Allstate Identity Protection.

What this table shows, and what it doesn't. The Zelle imposter-scam policy is not law and its full eligibility rules are not public — we report only what Zelle, Chase, and the CFPB have stated publicly. Reimbursement limits and plan prices for Allstate change over time and should be re-verified before any decision. We report only what is written in the official documents, without adding interpretation. If you're in the UK, the rules are materially different — see our separate page on the UK's mandatory APP fraud reimbursement.

The sentence that carries this page

Chase's own consumer-facing security guidance states it plainly, without a single legal qualifier:

"Treat Zelle, checks, wires, cashier's checks, transfers, gift cards and crypto like cash. Once scammers get the money, you probably won't get it back." That is not a competitor's marketing claim about Chase — it is Chase's own Security Center guidance to its customers, published on chase.com. It applies precisely to the case this page documents: a transfer you were manipulated into authorizing yourself.

The math

One comparison, from the prices found in the official documents above:

An identity-protection plan vs. Egidio

Allstate's entry-level Essentials plan, monthly, against Egidio's annual subscription:

$9.99/mo × 12 = $119.88/yr, vs. $29.99/yr for Egidio

Egidio costs 4 times less per year

Why we do this work

Someone who buys a smoke detector is entitled to more than a plastic box: to know how a fire starts, what to do in the first minutes, and what no device will do for them. That's the minimum owed to someone who trusts you with their safety.

This work — sourcing, verifying, publishing, correcting — is slow and demands discipline. It is within reach of every major player in this space: several are publicly traded companies with resources far beyond ours. If they don't do it, that isn't a question of resources. It's a choice.

At Egidio, the choice has been made. You're entitled to it, so you have it.

What Egidio does not do

Egidio is not an insurance product. It does not reimburse any loss, does not replace any bank or insurance protection, and does not excuse you from reporting fraud to your bank or filing a complaint with the CFPB if it occurs. Egidio acts upstream: detecting and blocking the attempt before the transfer is approved — not after.

Frequently asked questions

Will my bank never reimburse me if I get scammed?

That's not what we're saying. The Electronic Fund Transfer Act (Regulation E) requires your bank to reimburse an unauthorized electronic fund transfer. The difficulty concerns one specific case: when you yourself approve the transfer while being manipulated by someone impersonating your bank, a loved one, or an official body. Under current federal law, that transaction is generally treated as authorized, not unauthorized — which is the exact gray zone this page documents, source by source.

What is Zelle's "imposter scam" reimbursement policy?

Since June 2023, Early Warning Services (EWS), the operator of Zelle, has required participating banks and credit unions to reimburse consumers for qualifying imposter scams — cases where a fraudster impersonates a bank, government agency, or business. Zelle has not published the full eligibility criteria, and the policy does not cover every category of scam on the network.

Does an identity-protection plan cover money I send to a scammer myself?

Generally no. Allstate Identity Protection, for example, states that if you voluntarily send money to a scammer — even under false pretenses, or after being instructed to open an account — this is treated as a scam, not identity theft, and the plan's reimbursement features do not apply.

Does Egidio replace my bank's fraud protection or an identity-protection plan?

No. Egidio is not an insurance product, does not reimburse any loss, and does not replace any existing bank or insurance protection. It acts before the claim, by detecting and blocking the fraud attempt, where a reimbursement policy — when one applies at all — intervenes after, under conditions.