US banking giant JP Morgan Chase has taken legal action against several customers who allegedly exploited a glitch that allowed them to withdraw thousands of dollars from ATMs without cleared funds. The “infinite money glitch,” as it became known on TikTok, involved depositing a large, fraudulent cheque, which allowed customers to withdraw funds before the cheque bounced.
JP Morgan has filed lawsuits in Houston, Miami, and Los Angeles against two individuals and two businesses, seeking repayment of the funds with interest, as well as associated overdraft fees and legal costs. “Chase takes its responsibility to combat fraud seriously and prioritises protecting the firm and its customers to make the banking system safer,” the bank said in the court filings.
“Part of that responsibility is to hold people accountable when they commit fraud against Chase and its customers. Simply put, engaging in bank fraud is a crime.”
In one instance, a court filing described how on 29 August, a masked man deposited a cheque in the defendant’s Chase bank account for $335,000 (£258,300). The court papers said the defendant then started to withdraw the money. The cheque was eventually returned as counterfeit but the defendant still owed the bank more than $290,000, the filing added.
The amount of money kept by the defendants in the four lawsuits totalled more than $660,000, according to JP Morgan Chase’s lawyers.
Following viral videos on social media that detailed the loophole, JP Morgan closed the glitch last month and is currently investigating thousands of suspected cheque fraud incidents. Typically, US banks limit withdrawals from a cheque deposit until it clears, but this issue allowed unauthorised access to funds.
Melissa Enoch
Follow us on:
