Chase Bank “glitch” is the new term for check fraud

This past weekend people adopted a trend that went viral by writing themselves fake checks and depositing them into their accounts by going to the ATM and withdrawing the allotted amount that was on the checks. The check amounts were an obscene amount and people just kept withdrawing until the check bounced. It started with a group of people making a video telling everyone to write themselves a check and go to the ATM and keep withdrawing and they would make thousands of dollars – many people caught on and followed suit. Those who followed this plan shared videos of themselves actively committing this crime and others proved that they should do it too. Well… they definitely got themselves jailed.

This glitch is something that the bank programmer probably never expected. Normally, if someone were to write a check to someone, knowing that the check would bounce because of the amount of time it takes for a bank to detect it, which is usually 5-7 days since it has to clear between two banks. Normally you wouldn’t withdraw that money until it cleared. But going the route of just writing the check yourself within the same bank – that’s something that a programmer probably just didn’t see coming since it doesn’t have to be cleared by an outside bank. What people don’t realize is that this is straight up bank fraud. This isn’t a “glitch” in a video game. How do you think you can go to the bank and deposit a bogus check and walk away with thousands of dollars? If you look up the term “bank fraud” it specifically states that it is the use of potentially illegal means to obtain money, assets, or other property owned or held by a financial institution. I am amazed that people would believe that a bank would just give away “free” money without any repercussions. These people are going to face jail time, fines and all – not to mention the money they will have to pay back to the banks they stole. Chase had this problem fixed within days of being discovered. A sChase spokesman said “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.”

Do people really believe the hype? Are they naive enough to think they are going to get free money from a bank? Money that they had to write a fake check to get access to? It seems like people are just following the trends without thinking about any backlash or repercussions.