Dec 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Consumer Financial

Protection Bureau said on Friday it had filed a lawsuit against

JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ), Bank of America ( BAC ), and Wells Fargo ( WFC )

for failing to protect consumers from "widespread fraud"

on payments platform Zelle.

The CFPB seeks to stop the alleged unlawful practices,

secure redress and penalties, and obtain other relief for

consumers, it said in a statement.

The

proliferation of fraud and scams

on Zelle has attracted attention from U.S. lawmakers,

including Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren and regulators

concerned about consumer protection.

"What they built became a goldmine for criminals,"

making it easy for fraudsters to drain accounts while providing

insufficient protections for consumers or making them whole for

losses, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra told journalists in a

briefing. "These banks broke the law by running a payments

system that made fraud easy, while refusing to help the

victims."

Zelle is a payments network owned by seven banks,

including JPMorgan ( JPM ) and BofA.

"The CFPB's attacks on Zelle are legally and factually

flawed, and the timing of this lawsuit appears to be driven by

political factors," said Early Warning Services, the company

that operates Zelle and is jointly owned by banks.

The consumer regulator describes how hundreds of

thousands of consumers filed fraud complaints and were largely

denied assistance, with some being told to contact the

fraudsters directly to recover their money.

JPMorgan ( JPM ), Bank of America ( BAC ) and Wells Fargo ( WFC ) declined to

comment.