system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:Wells Fargo Scam

Please explain this Wells Fargo scam like I am five. 

Much appreciated.
gpt
Bankers get a commission (extra money,) for certain actions. These usually invoice opening accounts. The more accounts you open, the more money you get. Commission is a bonus. It's not a requirement for your base salary. Many banks create a quota of sales that they expect their bankers to hit. When accounts are opened with certain products(direct deposit, online banking, etc) is profitable for the bank.

Wells Fargo had an environment, where if your bankers were not making enough commission, they were reprimanded. Every location has a limited amount of customers. The quotas at Wells Fargo were much higher than achievable. This is a tactic for any sales force to raise the bar higher to get your team to perform harder. Unfortunately the quotas were so high, and the pressure on the employees was equally high, many resorts to illegal actions to achieve those goals.

Bankers opened accounts without the owners permission. Credit cards, checking, savings, online banking, bill pay. They would transfer money around to these accounts, simulate the activity that would get them paid, and transfer it back. The banker hits their numbers, three bank looks profitable, no one thinks about it. This goes on for years, and customers are asking about credit cards/accounts they never applied for.

Keep in mind, when we say bankers, we mean regular employees who make 25k-35k a year before commission.

This type of stuff isn't uncommon, but such a drastic beach across the board showes that when you create a highly pressured incentive based system, and punish those who perform poorly, you'll create a corrupt system. There was no one looking to see if these dates were legitimate, they only cared that numbers were met.