{"id":27916,"date":"2024-10-28T09:32:15","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T17:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/?p=27916"},"modified":"2024-10-28T09:32:20","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T17:32:20","slug":"check-kiting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/check-kiting\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Check Kiting? The Viral \u201cMoney Glitch\u201d That\u2019s Actually Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Unlike an innocent-as-apple-pie springtime kiting sesh, check kiting is no walk in the park \u2013 unless you believe less-than-informed advice from the wrong TikTok<\/a> influencers, who\u2019ve convinced their followers that what they call a \u201cmoney glitch\u201d is an easy path to free cash. Turns out, check-kiting isn\u2019t just an old-school trick that predates influencers by decades, it\u2019s actually fraud, and very much illegal. Get the lowdown, don\u2019t fall for the viral hype, and stay on the right side of the law.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is Check Kiting?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Alright, let\u2019s wind it back a little before we get ahead of ourselves. This shady bit of financial trickery existed when \u201cviral\u201d was just a medical term, long before TikTok was a sparkle in a developer\u2019s eye. So what is check-kiting in the first place? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the name implies, check kiting<\/a> was more commonplace when writing checks \u2013 those mysterious and ancient, signed official notes that instruct financial institutions to move a specific amount of money from one account to another \u2013 was more of a thing. Also known as flagging, check kiting is the act of passing, or \u201cfloating,\u201d checks between a few banks or bank accounts. The kiter typically holds two bank accounts and writes a bad check, meaning a check that the associated account doesn\u2019t have the funds to cover, from one of their accounts to a second of their accounts. During the time it takes for the check to process or clear (\u201cfloat time,\u201d which can sometimes take multiple days), they take funds from the second account and deposit them into the first, often repeating the process to kite even more money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the broadest sense, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals<\/a> defines check kiting as \u201cdrawing checks on an account in one bank and depositing them in an account in a second bank when neither account has sufficient funds to cover the amounts drawn,\u201d thus creating an artificial balance. And we\u2019ll find out why the Sixth Circuit got involved pretty soon, though you can probably take a pretty solid guess at that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kiting died down a bit as the popularity of checks dwindled, and as more banks implemented shorter float times to cut back on the practice, but it\u2019s on the rise again in 2024, this time with slightly more contemporary trappings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Viral Hype<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s old is new again on TikTok<\/a>, and this year, the old thing that\u2019s new is \u2013 unfortunately \u2013 check-kiting. Late this summer, numerous TikToks and other social media influencers began sharing what they called a \u201cmoney glitch,\u201d or even an \u201cinfinite money glitch.\u201d All you have to do, they said, is write and deposit a large check to yourself, then withdraw an amount that doesn\u2019t exceed that check\u2019s sum, usually from an ATM (which is not only convenient but also conveniently avoids contact with bank tellers). The \u201ctrick\u201d works because while banks have largely reduced those aforementioned float times, most still allow account holders to withdraw at least a portion of a \u201cfloating\u201d check before it clears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While TikTok-famous check kiting may not have gone quite as viral as brat girl summer or lip-synching battles, the \u201cmoney glitch\u201d got popular enough to incite action from Chase Bank, who publicly warned its customers that checking kiting is not a neat little trick to make money, it\u2019s flat out fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check Kiting Variants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As banking systems and con artists alike evolved, check-kiting has spawned quite a number of variations<\/a>. What is check-kiting nowadays? Turns out it can be quite a few different things, including these popular flavors of fraud:<\/p>\n\n\n\n