Crypto.com accidentally gave a woman a $10.5 million refund

What would you do if a company accidentally sent you millions of dollars you never asked for? Well, Australia based news channel 7 News reported on Tuesday that Crypto.com, one of the most high-profile crypto platforms in the world, had made an extremely expensive whoopsie last year after a woman living in Melbourne, Australia asked the company for a refund. Instead of just 100 AUD, she got 100,000 times that.

Local news reported that Thevamanogari Manivel had the company process a AUD$100 refund last May, but an employee allegedly entered the user’s account number into the payment section of the application the company uses for refunds, transferring the full AUD$10.5 million to the woman’s account .

This was at a time of rapid expansion for Crypto.com. While the price of popular digital currencies such as bitcoin and ether soared, the exchange was supportive crypto-based credit and debit cards. The company has recently pushed to give Australian users the ability to do so pay for everyday goods uses their (constantly fluctuating) crypto.

It took the company a full seven months to realize it had made a mistake, only discovering the misused funds during an audit that December. The company initiated legal action in the Supreme Court of Victoria towards the beginning of this year. The judges froze Manivel’s bank account in February.

Cayman Island-based Crypto.com declined to comment to Gizmodo, citing that the case is before the courts.

With such a windfall landing on her doorstep, Manivel decided to transfer $10.1 million to a joint account, then went ahead and bought a $1.35 million five-bedroom house for her sister in February, according to court documents cited by 7News.

The Supreme Court of Victoria has already sided with Crypto.com over the home, ordering Manivel to sell the mini-mansion and return those funds to the company. In accordance Guardian, Crypto.com lawyers could not reach Manivel’s sister, Thilagavathy Gangadory, to order her to freeze the account. The court then issued a default judgment in favor of Crypto.com, ordering the sister to return the funds along with $27,369.64 in interest and costs.

The case will return to court in October, according to 7News.

The first image you are greeted with when you go to Crypto.com is Matt Damon’s mug stalks towards the screen behind the slogan “Fortune favors the Brave”. It’s not like the company couldn’t afford to put away $10 million in the past. Before the company carried out the audit last year, it bought the rights to the name of Los Angeles Staples Centerand is putting up $700 million of its own funds behind the branding exercise.

The company probably needs the money back, now more than ever. Despite the fact that 2021 seemed to be “their year”, 2022 was tough right off the bat. The exchange suffered a massive hack worth $34 million in users’ crypto, and the company said it was refunding users’ lost crypto. And just like so many crypto exchanges, Crypto.com has been hurt by the recent market downturn and the ongoing crypto winter. The company announced in June that they were cut 260 positionsor about 5% of their total workforce, although there were reports based on anonymous employee interviews that the company was cut off hundreds more than they would say publicly.