(NewsNation) — Fraudsters siphoned $17 million over three days from ATMs in New York City after discovering a glitch in debit cards given to employees of a summer youth program.
The incident targeted the nearly 100,000 teens and young adults participating in the NYC Summer Youth Employment Program, according to the New York Times, which first broke the story.
The historically successful summer program helps New Yorkers, ages 14 to 24, with financial literacy and summer job opportunities.
Due to a system glitch, debit cards connected to summer workers’ biweekly paychecks allowed ATM users to withdraw an unlimited amount of cash, regardless of their account balance.
Within hours, the hack was shared on social media and spread rapidly. Some workers were motivated to sell their cards, city officials said, allowing scammers to drain their accounts and sinking some into thousands of dollars of debt.
The New York Times reported the incident cost the city $17 million in less than three days.
“We are deeply disturbed by scammers preying on our participants just as they started their work assignments to support themselves and their families,” a spokesperson for the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development told NewsNation.
The department launched an investigation with the vendors who oversee the pay card system “to make sure our participants’ earnings are as secure as possible,” the agency said.
Most ATMs have a daily withdrawal limit, but in this case, there was no limit due to the glitch.
Officials said the cards were used at the same ATMs hour after hour. A single ATM had $43,000 withdrawn, presumably by one person.
Police don’t know all of the ATM locations targeted, and they are still working to identify who is responsible.