Australian woman ordered to return $10.5 million wrongly credited by Crypto.com

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An Australian woman whose bank account was accidentally credited with about AUD $10.5 million instead of an AUD $100 refund has been ordered by a court to return the amount to Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com.

Thevamanogari Manivel of Melbourne received the money after an employee of the crypto exchange wrongly entered her bank account number instead of the refund amount in the payment field back in May 2021.

The error was detected during a December 2021 audit, after which Crypto.com sued to recover the money. The money must now be given back to the exchange, the Victoria Supreme Court ordered.

Manivel, it turns out, already spent AUD $1.35 million on a luxury home in Craigieburn in north Melbourne for her sister. She was ordered to sell the property and return the money or risk being charged with contempt of court.

The matter will be heard in court again in October.

Crypto.com, which hired actor Matt Damon for a commercial, ventured into several new markets this year, eyeing discoveries and growth. The platform established enterprises in many regions despite a crippling ongoing bear market.

Several centralised crypto platforms have suffered significant losses this year. While some were dragged down by bears, others succumbed to attacks from hackers.