An Australian individual named Kow Seng Chai has found himself entangled in a legal tussle after disappearing with around $500,000 in digital currency that was mistakenly deposited into his account by Rhino Trading Pty Ltd, the company behind the OTCPro trading platform.
The mix-up took place when the platform was supposed to transfer $99,500 to Chai’s account but made an error by adding an extra zero, bloating the amount to an astounding $995,000.
Despite Rhino Trading’s repeated attempts to reach out to Chai and request the return of the funds, their endeavors proved unsuccessful, prompting the company to take legal measures to freeze Chai’s assets and prevent him from exiting Australia.
Pricey Oversight
The mistake was uncovered when it was revealed that Lotte Enterprise Pty Ltd, a company under Chai’s ownership, had withdrawn substantial sums in Tether, a stablecoin crypto linked to the U.S. dollar, in a bid to offset the unpredictable nature of virtual currencies.
By the time Rhino Trading corrected the blunder, Chai had already syphoned off close to $956,000 from his account, leaving the company facing a loss of nearly $500,000 after factoring in the remaining balance.
This instance highlights the delicate intricacies of cryptocurrency dealings, where a simple administrative slip can lead to significant financial ramifications.
Fortune and Deception
This occurrence is not an anomaly in the realm of cryptocurrency trading. A similar event came to light over a year ago when Crypto.com mistakenly transferred $10.5 million to a woman in Victoria, Thevamanogari Manivel, as a result of an administrative error. Believing the windfall was a prize from a competition, Manivel and her partner, Jatinder Singh, engaged in a spending spree, acquiring real estate and luxury goods.
A judge in Victoria expressed serious reservations about moving forward with Jatinder Singh’s sentencing, who admitted to appropriating $6.09 million in a cryptocurrency mishap but contests any deliberate act of theft, causing confusion in the courtroom. Despite Singh’s admission of guilt, the judge questioned the sincerity of his regret and advised that he may need independent legal counsel to consider altering his plea due to the inconsistencies in his statements.