Roughly two months after Americans posted wild videos fanning the cash they made from the Chase bank glitch, some of them are getting slapped with federal lawsuits.
JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in America, has started suing individuals who took advantage of a momentary flaw in its system that allowed them to illegally withdraw money from ATMs using counterfeit checks.
The 'infinite money hack,' as many began to call it, became a viral social media trend in late August and early September. Bank customers reported seeing excess money in their account balance and were able to get cash from ATMs before their checks cleared.
JPMorgan quickly clawed these ill-gotten gains back, leading to an influx of panicked opportunists who suffered the consequences of their bank balances running thousands in the negative.
One of the most serious cases, according to a lawsuit filed in Texas, involves a Houston man who used a masked accomplice to deposit a phony $335,000 check at an ATM. JPMorgan claims this man still owes $290,939.47.
'On August 29, 2024, a masked man deposited a check in Defendant's Chase bank account in the amount of $335,000,' the bank said in the Texas filing. 'After the check was deposited, defendant began withdrawing the vast majority of the ill-gotten funds.'
JPMorgan filed another lawsuit in California accusing a man of submitting two fraudulent checks to his bank account, one worth $59,223.45 and the other worth $56,840.10.
The bank claims they're owed more than $90,000.
In a third case, this one filed in Florida, JPMorgan said yet another fraudulent check scheme costed them over $141,000.
JPMorgan, America's largest bank by assets, began investigating thousands of instances of people taking advantage of the 'money glitch,' but the bank hasn't disclosed its total losses, CNBC reported.
Most cases being examined are for far smaller amounts of money that were stolen, according to people with knowledge of the situation that CNBC spoke to.
In each of these cases, JPMorgan claimed the reached out to the alleged thieves, but weren't paid back for the bad checks.
According to the three complaints viewed by DailyMail.com, Chase is demanding the return of the stolen funds with interest and overdraft fees. The bank also wants to be awarded lawyers' fees.
'Fraud is a crime that impacts everyone and undermines trust in the banking system,' JPMorgan spokesman Drew Pusateri told CNBC. '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.'
DailyMail.com approached JPMorgan for comment.
In the days following the social media craze that saw people cheering outside Chase branches with wads of cash, experts and common folk alike were quick to tell people hacking ATMs that they were in for a rude awakening.
Jim Wang, a popular financial educator on TikTok, posted his own take on the Chase glitch mania and warned people that they'll face serious consequences for what they've done.
'In the case of this "glitch," it was just check fraud. You’re going to get in huge trouble if you do something like this,' he said.
'Just because money appears in your account, doesn’t mean it’s literally yours,' he said. 'If you spend it and are forced to pay it back you’re going to have to figure out a way to pay it back.'
One of the most recognizable videos to come out of this short-lived trend showed a man walking out of a Chase branch in Yonkers, New York, and cheering as he fanned out a wad of cash.
Three of his friends surrounded him as they all celebrated their ill-gotten gains.
They then cruise through the streets hanging out of their car holding hundred dollar bills in their hands and beaming with their Chase debit cards in their mouths.
Other videos showed dozens of people lining up outside Chase branches, allegedly hoping to exploit the supposed glitch.
The euphoria was short lived though, as people began to share screenshots of their Chase accounts with scarily large negative balances.
One visibly distressed man showed pending deductions from his account's balance, one for $31,000 and another for over $7,000. Both were due to an ATM or deposit error.
'F**k man,' he said as he rubs his face. 'They really told me to tap in, the next day it was supposed to clear, but look at my account.'
Another person showed that his account was nearly $11,000 in the red after taking part in the trend.
Though JPMorgan has so far filed three lawsuits in federal court so far, check fraud can be prosecuted at the state level as well.
The maximum punishment for large thefts of money from financial institutions is a fine of $1 million and 30 years of imprisonment.
