J.P. Morgan Sues TikTok Users Over ATM ‘Glitch’

Over the summer, a curious fad went viral on TikTok, involving Chase Bank.

People were writing fake checks and depositing them into the bank’s ATMs, withdrawing thousands of dollars thanks to a technical error — dubbed “the infinite money glitch” on TikTok and “check fraud” by some observers. The glitch let people withdraw the full amount of the check, rather than the smaller portion the bank normally allows. Now, Chase’s parent company is taking legal action.

J.P. Morgan Chase sued four people in federal court for depositing phony checks as part of the glitch, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Tuesday (Oct. 29).

While the bank hasn’t disclosed the full extent of its losses from the social media craze, court filings showed that the four defendants owe up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. A person in Texas owes more than $290,000, one in California owes about $90,000, and two Florida-based defendants owe $141,000 and about $138,000, respectively.

“Fraud is a crime that impacts everyone and undermines trust in the banking system,” a J.P. Morgan spokesperson said, per the report. “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.”

J.P. Morgan said last month that it was investigating thousands of incidents of possible check fraud committed by TikTok users and planned to turn over its evidence to law enforcement.

Some of the videos got millions of views, leading TikTok to post a warning that “participating in this activity could result in you or others getting hurt,” according to the report.

Check fraud remains an ongoing threat, with criminals updating their tactics and using check washing, counterfeiting and other efforts to exploit vulnerabilities in traditional payment systems, PYMNTS reported in April.

In 2023, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) cautioned banks that it was seeing a nationwide surge in check fraud.

The organization said that Bank Secrecy Act reporting for check fraud climbed substantially in the previous three years, criminals were stealing checks from the mail, and they were using the personally identifiable information they found on that stolen mail for future crimes.

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