Tiktok trend: “free money” from ATMs

This article first appeared on ntv.de

The young men can hardly believe their supposed luck. They cheer and dance in front of a branch of the US bank Chase, throwing some of the 20 dollar bills from the thick bundles they are holding in their hands into the air in their joy. Numerous videos with scenes like this one went viral last week on Tiktok, the platform that is particularly popular with young people. In them, dozens of users reported how they had been able to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars in “free money” thanks to an alleged error in Chase’s ATMs.

As an alleged trick or “life hack,” the scam went viral on Tiktok and other social networks: Users reported that they had discovered that they could write checks for huge sums regardless of their own account balance. Chase ATMs allow users to withdraw part of these imaginary sums without checking whether the money is actually there.

What the naive TikTokers apparently don’t understand – at first – is that the trick of getting free money from the ATM works like a classic check scam, albeit in a particularly poorly thought-out variant. Of course, it only took a few days for the withdrawn amounts to be debited from the accounts – or until the bank tried to do so but didn’t find enough money in the accounts in question. In many cases, the accounts were then blocked, US media reports.

Payment method difficult to understand for young people

But the supposedly clever life hackers, who have now spent most of the money they withdrew, are not only suddenly sitting on a mountain of debt. They are also facing severe penalties. Issuing and circulating bad checks is fraud, and for sums of several tens of thousands of dollars it is a crime under federal law. This means that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating.

In most cases, these investigations are not difficult due to the incredibly naive approach of the young perpetrators. Many not only used their own bank account and checkbook, but also proudly published videos on social networks of themselves and their supposed loot. Tiktok and other platforms have now removed most of these videos.

Horror at the naivety of TikTokers

The number of people who took part in the scam is unknown. The bank involved, Chase, pointed out that all attempted fraud was being investigated and serious cases reported to the FBI. Commentators on social networks and in the US media were appalled by the naivety of the TikTokers, who apparently did not realize that payments by check were debited with a considerable delay in some cases – but were debited in any case.

The well-known business journalist Felix Salmon from the news portal Axos, however, pointed out that it would make more sense to finally do away with paper checks completely rather than explaining to young people this completely outdated payment method that is hardly understandable in the electronic age. In the USA as well as in Germany, checks are being used less and less. According to the Bundesbank, payments by check recently accounted for less than 0.01 percent of payment transactions.