An Australian crypto exchange, OTCPro, owned by Rhino Trading, finds itself embroiled in a legal battle to recover approximately $328,000 mistakenly deposited into a user’s account. The error occurred when $653,000 was credited to the user’s account in January, instead of the intended $65,300.
Following the realization of the mistake on February 4th, the exchange alleges that the user, Kow Seng Chai, failed to respond to emails requesting the return of the funds. Court documents reveal that Chai purportedly used a portion of the mistakenly sent funds to purchase Tether and withdrew approximately $626,700 in daily maximum lots of $100,000 within 10 days.
Moreover, Rhino Trading claims that the phone number linked to the account did not belong to Chai, who also did not appear in court. Consequently, on February 9th, the Victoria State Supreme Court froze Chai’s assets and issued an injunction on February 21st, preventing him from leaving the country, citing concerns about the disposal of assets and the authenticity of bank account statements.
Meanwhile, OTCPro reports a loss of approximately $322,700, calculated as the remaining account balance minus the total mistakenly sent funds. This incident echoes a similar error made by Crypto.com in May 2021 when $6.86 million was mistakenly sent to a Melbourne couple, resulting in legal ramifications for the recipients.
