Fidelity Sharply Cuts Mobile Deposit Limits After Scam

Fidelity Investments, responding to a checking scam, has sharply limited the deposit amounts that some customers can make to brokerage cash management accounts through the company’s mobile app.

As The Wall Street Journal reported last week, the giant asset manager on Sept. 11 cut the permitted deposit amount to $1,000 from $100,000 and started requiring a 16-business-day hold on deposits for certain customers.

Rather than affecting retirement plans, Fidelity’s new policy limits mobile deposits into cash management accounts that brokerage customers can tap for ATM withdrawals, online bill payments and purchases.

Scammers recently used social media to urge Fidelity customers to join a fraud involving checking deposits made through the company’s mobile app. The scammers used the customers’ accounts to make large checking deposits and then quickly withdrew some of the money, giving the accout holders a cut, the Journal reported.