The Chase Bank "Money Glitch" Exposed Low Critical Thinking

Social media has provoked many stupid actions since gaining popularity, but few events have exposed a lack of critical thinking in adults like the Chase Bank “infinite money glitch”.

In case you’re not aware of this misled movement, I’ll summarize: Over the past weekend, several TikTok videos went viral for promoting a “glitch” that allowed Chase Bank customers to extract “free money” from ATMs.

Of course, there’s no such thing as “free money”, and the “glitch” may have just been a feature of the bank’s systems which was previously not exploited. Regardless, the people doing this allegedly committed check fraud, which is a serious financial crime.

The TikTok videos told viewers that they could get “free money” by depositing fake checks via ATMs and then immediately withdrawing the funds as cash. Some videos showed TikTok creators doing this and/or celebrating with stacks of money.

Was this a glitch or a feature?

Many social media users have pointed out that most banks will put a hold on funds deposited via check to prevent fraud. This seems to indicate that this may have in fact been a glitch, error, or oversight on Chase Bank’s part. However, it’s also possible that the lack of hold time was an intentional feature meant to give Chase customers faster access to their deposits.

To me, the significance of this story is not that Chase Bank allowed it to be possible, nor is it the fact that TikTok creators posted videos encouraging it. The key takeaway is that apparently many TikTok users saw the videos and decided to commit check fraud without considering the impact of their actions beyond the next 24–48 hours.

TikTok’s history of breeding bad decisions

Let me be clear: I don’t “hate” TikTok, and I’m not saying TikTok is the only social platform that encourages unhealthy behavior. In general I think almost all social media is unhealthy when used the way most people use it.

I think social media platforms should be considered responsible for providing a healthy experience, not just an engaging experience, but that’s a story for another day.

That said, based on the available evidence, TikTok does seem like the worst social media platform in terms of encouraging unhealthy, antisocial, and sometimes dangerous behavior. But the most sinister part about the app may be the way it fosters short attention spans and a lack of critical thinking.

Is social media killing critical thinking skills?

Social media is certainly not the only perpetrator here. If I made a list of all parts of modern society that discourage critical thinking, it would include schools, entertainment, mainstream news, and others in addition to social media.

However, social media (and specifically TikTok) do encourage reactive behavior with little to no critical consideration.

Videos that go mega-viral on TikTok often create trends, which reward creators for posting videos focused on the same topic, activity, or sound.

I’m a digital marketer, and I always pay attention when other marketers talk about how they succeed in their niche. Professionals who have consistently grown multiple TikTok profiles often teach that you should hop on viral trends and use viral dances, songs, and sound effects even if they’re irrelevant to your content.

In other words, TikTok’s powerful algorithm encourages hopping on popular trends without thinking, and rewards creators who do so with increased reach, likes and followers.

How mindless trend-hopping created check fraudsters

Here’s the thing: You don’t need to understand the complexities of financial institutions in order to know that check fraud is wrong. You don’t even need to know that “check fraud” is a specific crime. You only need to think about it as an individual for a few minutes, and you’ll arrive at that conclusion.

The “infinite money glitch” is a clear example of this because it started with an action that is obviously not lawful. It’s not like the TikTok videos shared a special code which, when punched into an ATM, produced a stack of cash. Chase customers were required to forge a check and then deposit a forged check in order to withdraw the money.

To anyone who pauses to think for themself, this is obviously not lawful. It’s not a “hack” or a “glitch” if you have to deceive an institution to make it happen.

To apply this line of thought to petty theft, this is like filming yourself stealing from a grocery store and then saying “look at this glitch, you don’t have to pay if you just walk out!”

Theft is theft, regardless of whether you get caught immediately, and check fraud is check fraud, even if you get to temporarily flash a fat stack.

Why did TikTok users fall for this?

In my opinion, the reason an undisclosed number of people participated in this trend is because they were already habituated to doing what TikTok encouraged them to do without thinking first.

TikTok encourages people to hop on trends without thinking using a powerful no-risk high-reward incentive. If you spend a lot of time on the app and are trying to grow as a creator, you can get rewarded by quickly joining viral trends without pausing to think about it.

In most cases when this happens, there’s little to no risk and creators are rewarded with increased reach, follows, likes, and overall attention.

In the case of the money glitch trend, there was a hidden risk and a much bigger reward. In addition to getting to hop on a trend and grow their following, creators were promised a stack of free money.

If this unfortunate incentive system isn’t addressed and corrected, I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see a lot of viral marketing campaigns abusing it.

For example, if you create a viral video that shows someone exploiting a “hack” that results in an immediate reward with no risks or downsides, some viewers are bound to replicate the behavior. There are many ways that scammers as well as legitimate businesses with low morals could exploit this.

I’m sure there are many examples of this happening already, but the “money glitch” caught my attention because of how easily it influenced people to commit what is obviously a crime. Have there been any other similarly harmful recent trends? I need to dig some more.