Debit cards issued by NYC’s summer youth job program tied to $17 M ATM fraud scam: sources

NYC-issued debit cards meant to pay participants working in a summer youth program were instead used by scammers who nabbed $17 million over a three-day period earlier this month, sources told The Post.

The scam — the subject of an ongoing fraud probe — led to ATMs across the Big Apple being banged for big bucks from July 11 to July 13, with the cash ending up in the wrong hands rather than kids and young adults in the Summer Youth Employment Program, officials said.

The payment cards are supposed to give access to weekly earnings, typically several hundred bucks at most. However, an error allowed the cards to access massive payments of up $40,000 per ATM.

Teenagers and adults boasted how big money could be made off the cards in videos posted on TikTok and Instagram.

“We’re making bread, we’re printing money right now,” said one man in a video posted on TikTok. “If you work S.Y.E.P., hit me up.”

However, others warned people not to fall for scam.

City officials insisted no tax dollars have been lost, making it unclear who absorbed the costs of the illegal withdrawals.

The case – first reported by the New York Times — is being investigated by both the NYPD and Department of Youth and Community Development.

“We are deeply disturbed by scammers preying on our participants just as they started their work assignments to support themselves and their families,” DYCD spokesman Mark Zustovich.

He also insisted the agency “quickly launched an investigation with the vendors who oversee the SYEP pay card system, to make sure our participants’ earnings are as secure as possible” and have “worked diligently to educate” participants about “scams and fraud activities.”

Investigators are trying to determine the origin of the scam, who was involved and how many cards were involved but lacked answers as of Saturday.

ATM World Corp. told ABC-7 News its records show the same card was used multiple times on its ATM machines to score $43,000. There was $200 limit per transaction but no limit on how many one could make and how much cash one could take out.

“Sometimes it was five to 10 transactions. A few times we saw 100 to 200 transactions consecutively,” said Youserf Mubairrez, CEO of ATM World Corp.

The jobs program is the largest of its kind in the United States, with100,000 participants this year. Young people ages 16 to 24 – many from poor and minority families —  are paid $16.50 minimum wage for up to 25 hours a week in what are typically their first formal jobs.

Participants with bank accounts get paid via direct deposit, but since 2003 those without received payment cards that can be used at ATMs to get their weekly earnings. About 30,000 were set up to be paid by card this year, The Times reported.