The Real Problem with the Chase 'ATM Glitch'

Sunday, September 08, 2024

Paper checks, just like the penny (and even the dime), deserve to die.

Posted by LampLighter at 12:32 PM | 12 COMMENTS | permalink

More from the article...

... Driving the news: The whims of the TikTok algorithm alighted disastrously upon Chase last week, as videos went viral of people writing large checks to themselves, depositing the nonexistent money into their accounts, and then withdrawing enormous amounts of cash.

- - - This, of course, is check fraud " but the people who thought they discovered an "ATM glitch" can probably be forgiven for not even really understanding what checks are, let alone what check fraud is.

- - - Most of them have probably never written a check in their lives.

Between the lines: Checks, as a payments technology, are both awkward and archaic. ...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-09-07 12:11 AM

" but the people who thought they discovered an "ATM glitch" can probably be forgiven for not even really understanding what checks are, let alone what check fraud is.

Is this claiming those that fell for the "glitch" were stupid? Lower IQ?

What exactly does "not even really understanding what checks are" mean?

#2 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-09-07 12:22 AM

@#2 ... What exactly does "not even really understanding what checks are" mean? ...

It means that they apparently did not understand the meaning of the checks they wrote/

#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-09-07 12:46 AM

"This, of course, is check fraud " but the people who thought they discovered an "ATM glitch" can probably be forgiven for not even really understanding what checks are, let alone what check fraud is."

Yeah. Not buying it. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

They knew they didn't have the money in their accounts.

But they did it anyway.

All they did was bounce a check which is basically a very high interest loan as spelled out in whatever documents they signed to open their accounts.

But I do agree more time should be spent on money management in high schools. I dont remember ever being taught in high school how checking accounts and savings accounts work. But my parents did help me open my first Christmas account and teach me how to use it to save money for Christmas. I figured the rest out myself.

#4 | Posted by donnerboy at 2024-09-08 01:28 PM

@#4 ... They knew they didn't have the money in their accounts.

But they did it anyway. ...

Yup.

For me, that is the main issue here.

Of course, that also makes me wonder why they thought they would be able to get away with it?

... But I do agree more time should be spent on money management in high schools. ...

Yeah, but I doubt it will happen.

#5 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-09-08 01:45 PM

... Paul Dickson pulled out a $20 bill recently when he was at a baseball game at Camden Yards and wanted to buy a beer.

Another guy in line started laughing "because there's no place in the ballpark where you can spend cash," said Dickson.

Dickson, 85, who is an Orioles fan while his son and grandson are Nationals' fans, paid for the $17.50 beer by credit card. He knew that the Nationals' home stadium, Nationals Park, had become a cashless stadium, but he didn't know other baseball stadiums, like Camden Yards also stopped accepting cash. ...

Are cash and checks on the way out?

Cash and checks, the dominant forms of currency for generations, are now increasingly not welcome.

Like Camden Yards, most Major League Baseball stadiums and many other professional sports arenas have gone cashless. ...

#6 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-09-08 01:48 PM

17.50 for a beer? jfc.

#7 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2024-09-08 01:50 PM

... But I do agree more time should be spent on money management in high schools. ...

Yeah, but I doubt it will happen.

#5 | POSTED BY LAMPLIGHTER

That would be too bad.

At that end of my life it did not seem important at all.

At this end of my life it turns out to one of the most important things I ever learned.

#8 | Posted by donnerboy at 2024-09-08 01:51 PM

This is dumb.

The real problem is paper checks, it's a society so beholden to stuff and money that they didn't bother to question whether what they were doing was as good as they thought.

Were they really dumb enough to think banks would leave this opportunity open?

#9 | Posted by jpw at 2024-09-08 03:09 PM

#9 JPW I disagre, they knew what they were doing and did it anyway. They were greedy and thought that they wouldn't get caught. Like any scam it has to do with greed. People will send their hard earned cash to a "Nigerian Prince" because an email tells them they will get rich, they believe that someone is going to sell them a gold mine that is actually real and they will become billionaires. That's why scams work because people are greedy. I believe in the adage "If it's sounds too good to be true it probably is."

#10 | Posted by Ronnie68 at 2024-09-08 09:04 PM

@#9 ... The real problem is paper checks ...

Twenty years ago when I used to travel to The Netherlands on business, one of the many things I noticed is that instead of using paper checks, people would just write their account's routing and account numbers on the invoice.

#11 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-09-09 10:51 AM

__________
The real problems are neither the banks (it could have happened at any bank that allows "overdraft," either standalone or linked to a credit account like bank-issued credit card, CMA or HELOC - Chase was likely chosen by TikTok influencers because they have a large national network of ATMs) nor paper checks - they still have their uses, especially for many B2B and B2C companies (see "Catch Me If You Can" about Frank Abagnale and what he could've done much easier today with the account's routing and account number), or many people who can't or don't want to have their bank or P2P app on their phones or computers, it's:

1. Basic human greed - "I can get 'free' money AND screw the bank AND no one will be the wiser? Where is that nearest Chase ATM at?"

2. Basic human stupidity - the financial illiterates who seeking financial "advice" or a get-richer-quick scheme from TikTok or other "non-financial" sources - so, it's "the influencers leading the [financially] blind, and the [financially] blind willingly following the influencers."

|------ The technique involved depositing a check for a large amount of money the user didn't actually have and withdrawing a smaller but substantial amount before anything officially cleared. In reality, the "glitch" was better known as fraud. And now, JP Morgan Chase has confirmed the bank is reporting the people who committed the crimes to authorities.

Some videos on TikTok even showed people throwing money they'd ostensibly gotten through this method into the air in celebration. ... One video features a woman on the phone explaining to her mother that they're letting people get between $40,000 and $50,000 for nothing with this infinite money "glitch." The mother is rightly skeptical and says she doesn't want her bank account closed, while her daughter insists her account won't be closed since it's just a glitch.

Chase said they've frozen some accounts who tried it... And the bank is giving "surveillance footage and other information related to individuals" to police.
-------|

Stupidity has (or should have) consequences.
__________

#12 | Posted by CutiePie at 2024-09-09 04:38 PM

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