Cryptocurrency company accidentally transfers $10.5m to Australian woman and doesn’t notice for seven months
Thevamanogari Manivel used money to buy Melbourne property before supreme court granted Crypto.com freeze on her bank account
Cryptocurrency trading platform Crypto.com accidentally transferred $10.5m to an Australian woman when processing a $100 refund, and failed to notice the error for seven months.
The company – which paid Hollywood star Matt Damon to feature in a Super Bowl commercial with the slogan “fortune favours the brave” – discovered it had accidentally transferred the fortune to Melbourne woman Thevamanogari Manivel in December 2021, seven months after the error was made.
Crypto.com, which operates as Foris GFS in Australia, had paid out $10.5m 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 $1.35m of the money had been used to buy a four-bedroom home in Craigieburn in Melbourne’s north in February, and the ownership of the property was then transferred into the name of Manivel’s sister, Thilagavathy Gangadory, who lives in Malaysia.
Crypto.com said in May that it remained fully committed to the deal.
“We are well financed, and these are multiyear contracts, which will continue to play a crucial role in our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to cryptocurrency,” a spokesperson said.