According to a report by ABC, an Australian man has vanished after allegedly pocketing around half a million dollars when the cryptocurrency trading platform Rhino Trading Pty Ltd mistakenly added an extra zero to his account.
The individual in question, identified as Kow Seng Chai, reportedly pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars after Rhino Trading Pty Ltd erroneously credited his account with AUD $995,000 (US $652,316) instead of AUD $99,500 (US $65,237).
Rhino Trading Pty Ltd stated that Chai has failed to respond to requests to return the money. By the time the trading firm discovered the error on February 4th, Chai had already used some of the funds to purchase Tether through an account set up by his business, Lotte Enterprise Pty Ltd. He withdrew funds in multiple maximum daily installments of US$100,000.
The 37-year-old Mildura man has completely vanished, leading the Victorian Supreme Court to issue a “freezing order” on his assets and an injunction preventing him from leaving Australia.
Similar Case: Couple Receives $10.5M from Crypto.com
This incident is not the first of its kind. In 2021, a Melbourne couple found themselves facing a trial for theft after inadvertently receiving 10.5 million Australian dollars ($6.7 million) from Crypto.com. The couple received the funds by mistake and spent the money before the error was discovered, as reported by Ruholamin Haqshanas from Cryptonews.com.
The incident occurred in May 2021 when Thevamanogari Manivel made a transfer to her partner Jatinder Singh’s Crypto.com account. The exchange identified that the bank account did not match the exchange account and issued a refund. However, instead of an AUD $100 ($67) refund, it mistakenly sent AUD $10.5 million (worth over $7 million) to the investors based in Melbourne. The oversight went unnoticed until December 2021 when Crypto.com conducted its annual audit.
Couple Claims They Believed They Won a Prize
During the court proceedings in October 2022, the couple argued that they believed they had won a prize from the crypto exchange. Singh claimed to have received a notification about a competition from the company in the past.
However, Crypto.com’s compliance officer, Michi Chan Fores, denied any such competition, stating that the exchange did not send such notifications to its users. In September 2023, Manivel pleaded guilty to recklessly dealing with the proceeds of the crime.”
