TikTok’s ‘Infinite Money Glitch’ Reportedly Comes Back to Bite Fraudsters
Many people used an ATM glitch that went viral on TikTok earlier this year to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from JPMorgan Chase. According to a new report from CNBC, the bank is now suing several of those account holders.
The outlet said that the bank has filed lawsuits in federal courts in Texas, Florida, and California accusing defendants of fraudulently withdrawing between $80,000 and $290,000 from its teller machines. Gizmodo could not independently confirm the lawsuits had been filed.
In September, a series of videos began to spread on TikTok and other platforms in which people claimed they were able to withdraw large sums of money from JPMorgan Chase by depositing checks for money they didn’t actually have and then withdrawing a portion of those sums before the bank fully processed the checks.
In some videos, the creators walked out of JPMorgan Chase bank branches and encouraged other people to try the “infinite money glitch.”
At the time, a JPMorgan Chase spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that depositing fraudulent checks wasn’t a quirky life hack but rather fraud that would be reported to law enforcement. The Journal reported that thousands of people had taken advantage of the trick.
It appears that some people didn’t get the message soon enough, however, or thought a cartoonish disguise would be enough to protect them. CNBC reported that one of JP Morgan Chase’s lawsuits, filed in Texas, alleges that on August 24 a masked man deposited a counterfeit check written for $335,000 in the defendant’s bank account, after which the defendant began making withdrawals that came to more than $290,000.
“Fraud is a crime that impacts everyone and undermines trust in the banking system,” JP Morgan Chase spokesman Drew Pusateri told CNBC. “We’re pursuing these cases and actively cooperating with law enforcement to make sure if someone is committing fraud against Chase and its customers, they’re held accountable.”
Soon after the scheme went viral, JPMorgan Chase changed its ATM practices so that users couldn’t withdraw money from newly deposited checks before they cleared.