Support truly
independent journalism
In a not-so-shocking development, a viral TikTok trend once again proved to be little more than a stupid stunt that ruined the lives of the impressionable.
The trend involved people taking advantage of a glitch in JPMorgan Chase ATMs that allowed users to deposit a check - without the available funds - and immediately have access to the money listed on it.
This is check fraud, but was shared across TikTok as a fun way to grab free money.
In reality, Chase really did have a glitch allowing the exploitation of its ATMs, but the company fixed the problem within days of its discovery, according to a representative who spoke to the New York Post.
“We are aware of this incident, and it has been addressed. Regardless of what you see online, depositing a fraudulent check and withdrawing the funds from your account is fraud, plain and simple,” the spokesperson said.
Before the fix, some social media users shared videos where they pulled money from the ATMs and celebrated. Some customers were filmed “making it rain” with their ill-gotten gains outside a Yonkers Chase Bank ATM.
Later in the the video, the customers were hanging out their car windows with their Chase cards in their mouths and stacks of cash in their hands. They also belted out "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton, which was odd for a group of men in their 20s, but they seemed to be having fun.
Once the glitch was fixed, Chase began to rectify the fraudulent withdrawals by deducting the stolen cash from users' accounts.
This left some users with massive overdraw debts and locked bank accounts.
One social media user shared a video of his Chase account with deductions totaling almost $40,000 after he allegedly tried to TikTok trend.
Another user showed a negative balance of nearly $11,000 in his account.
"Bro, what the f*** man. I know I shouldn't of given in to this s*** man," he says in the video. "This Chase glitch s*** man, don't do this s***."
Jim Wang, a financial educator who spoke to the New York Post, warned that people who took advantage of the glitch could face severe consequences.
He told the outlet that those who tried are now seeing "big holds" or "huge negative balances" in their accounts. Wang warned people who tried it could get into "huge trouble" for essentially committing check fraud.
Austen Allred, the CEO of the Bloom Institute of Technology, commented on X about the trend, calling it "check fraud" and critiquing TikTok for popularizing common criminal scams as life hacks.
"It seems like for every type of fraud that exists there’s a TikTok influencer who just discovered it and thinks it’s foolproof," he wrote.
