An Australian cryptocurrency exchange is working hard to get back nearly $328,000 from a user after accidentally putting too much money in their account.
Based on court documents, ABC News reported that Rhino Trading, the company behind the OTCPro exchange, made a mistake in January. They meant to transfer $65,300 to a user, Kow Seng Chai, but accidentally sent $653,000 instead.
After noticing the error on February 4, the exchange contacted Chai to ask for the extra money back, but he has yet to reply to their emails. Court documents also say Chai might have used some of the money to buy Tether (USDT) and took out $100,000 daily from the exchange, the most he could take out daily, adding up to about $626,700 over ten days.
When Rhino Trading tried calling the phone number Chai had given, someone else answered and said it wasn’t Chai’s number. Chai also didn’t show up in court.
On February 9, the Supreme Court in Victoria froze Chai’s assets and, on February 21, made an order to keep him from leaving Australia. Justice Michael Osborne said there was a serious chance the assets could be sold off and noted the bank statements didn’t seem real when he decided to freeze Chai’s assets and prevent him from traveling.
The exchange says it’s now out nearly $322,700, which is the difference between the wrong amount sent and what’s left in Chai’s account.
This has happened before. Over two years ago, Crypto.com accidentally sent $6.86 million to a Melbourne couple instead of a $100 refund because of a typing error. The couple thought it was a windfall and spent it on houses, cars, and presents. In September 2023, one of them, Thevamanogari Manivel, was given an 18-month community corrections order, and Jatinder Singh is due in court in March for his part in the spending spree.
