Cryptocurrency company accidentally transfers $10.5 million to Australian woman and doesn’t notice for seven months | Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrency trading platform Crypto.com accidentally transferred $10.5 million to an Australian woman when she processed a $100 refund, failing to notice the mistake for seven months.
The company – which paid Hollywood star Matt Damon to appear in a Super Bowl ad with the slogan “fortune favors the brave” – discovered it had accidentally transferred the fortune to Melbourne woman Thevamanogari Manivel in December 2021, seven months after that the mistake was made.
Crypto.com, which operates as Foris GFS in Australia, had paid out $10.5 million instead of a $100 refund after Manivel’s account number was accidentally entered into the payment amount field.
The company launched legal action in the Victorian Supreme Court this year, and in February was granted a freeze on Manivel’s Commonwealth Bank account, but most of the money had been transferred to other accounts – which were later frozen.
The court heard that $1.35 million of the money had been used to buy a four-bedroom home in Craigieburn in Melbourne’s north in February, and ownership of the property was subsequently transferred to the name of Manivel’s sister, Thilagavathy Gangadory, who lives in Malaysia.
Attempts to serve Gangadory with the freezing orders were unsuccessful, as she never responded to emails from Crypto.com’s lawyers. The only communication provided to the court was an email response to Manivel’s lawyers saying “received, thank you”.
Manivel’s lawyers informed Crypto.com that Gangadory was “seeking legal advice”, the court heard.
As a result, a default judgment was awarded to Crypto.com to compel Gangadory to sell the property as soon as possible, with the money going to Crypto.com, plus $27,369.64 in interest and costs.
Crypto.com declined to comment on the case while it was in court.
In June, Crypto.com said it was laying off 260 of its employees due to the downturn in the cryptocurrency market. But Verge reported that the company had quietly laid off many more, and not told other employees.
The downturn in the cryptocurrency market came just months after the AFL announced a five-year partnership with Crypto.com to become the “official cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform for the AFL and AFLW”.
Crypto.com said in May that it remained fully committed to the deal.
“We are well funded and these are multi-year contracts, which will continue to play a critical role in our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to cryptocurrency,” a spokesperson said.
