A viral social media trend caused an uptick in banking fraud

The trend: Multiple TikTok videos depicted customers taking advantage of a temporary glitch in Chase’s ATMs that let customers deposit bad checks and withdraw money before they bounced, per Banking Dive.

How we got here: Multiple users posted videos of Chase customers allegedly standing in line to deposit their checks and withdraw cash, calling the move a “hack.” Another video showed a customer who’d used the hack with a wad of cash in their hands.

This isn’t the first time TikTok has influenced the behavior of banking customers. Recently, social media has helped lead Gen Zers back to cash. But it’s far rarer—though not unheard of—that a social media trend convinces multiple people to commit fraud.

First Published on Sep 6, 2024

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