I Would Not Have Predicted Check Fraud as a TikTok Trend

When you deposit a check it has to clear, but a certain small amount is (generally) immediately available to withdraw. In the olden days, this meant scammers would write bad checks that, “Bounced,” while at a business to get some cashback and could leave someone who took those checks in a bad place when the bank wanted its money back. I guess some young folks don’t understand how checking works because there have been TikTok videos of people writing checks with wild sums of money, depositing those checks at a Chase Bank ATM, and immediately taking out a bunch of, “Free money,” as these ATMs oddly didn’t limit how much cash you could have right away from a check. Oh, you sweet naive children, that’s textbook check fraud. 

There is no such thing as free money—well, unless you’re already a rich corporation and get bailed out by a Government due to being, “Too big to fail,” even if you did commit some form of fraud. That said, your average Agnus, Agatha, Jermaine, or Jack isn’t going to get much sympathy for giving themselves a negative account balance due to writing checks to themselves or friends. Are these TikTok videos meant more as satire of how stupid people can behave as opposed to being a legitimate, “Hack,” however? Consider we once had an internet trend where people broke their bones running up stacks of milk crates and you have your depressing answer.