JP Morgan sues customers over viral cheque fraud

US banking giant JP Morgan Chase, is suing customers who allegedly took advantage of a glitch by illegally withdrawing thousands of dollars from its ATMs.

The “infinite money glitch”, as it became known on social media, allowed the bank's customers to write a large cheque to themselves, deposit it and then withdraw the funds before the cheque bounced.

Two individuals and two businesses are facing lawsuits in courts in Houston, Miami and Los Angeles.

They are being asked to return the money with interest, pay related overdraft fees and cover legal expenses as well as other costs suffered by the bank.

"Chase takes its responsibility to combat fraud seriously and prioritises protecting the firm and its customers to make the banking system safer," the bank said in the court filings.

"Part of that responsibility is to hold people accountable when they commit fraud against Chase and its customers. Simply put, engaging in bank fraud is a crime."

In one of the cases, a court filing described how on 29 August, a masked man deposited a cheque in the defendant’s Chase bank account for $335,000 (£258,300).

The court papers said the defendant then started to withdraw the money.

The cheque was eventually returned as counterfeit but the defendant still owed the bank more than $290,000, the filing added.

The amount of money kept by the defendants in the four lawsuits totalled more than $660,000, according to JP Morgan Chase's lawyers.

Banks in the US usually allow customers to withdraw only a small fraction of the value of a cheque before it is cleared.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that JP Morgan Chase closed the loophole a few days after several videos telling people about the glitch went viral on social media.

The report said the bank was investigating thousands of possible cheque fraud incidents.