Many of us have imagined indulging in an extravagant shopping spree, and that's precisely what a woman did when she received $10.5 million by mistake.
In a scenario such as this, most individuals would likely refrain from spending the funds until they were sure that it rightfully belonged to them. However, Thevamanogari Manivel did not follow this course of action.
Rather than questioning the source of the funds, Manivel indulged in an extravagant shopping spree and managed to get away with it until December 2021, when the company discovered its colossal mistake.
Regrettably, she was unable to return all the erroneously sent funds since a significant portion of the $10.5 million AUD had already been spent.
The extravagant shopping spree commenced when $10.1 million was deposited into a shared account with her sister, Thilagavathy Gangadory, leading to the purchase of a $1.35 million property in the Melbourne suburb of Craigieburn.
As the story goes, the house was purportedly purchased as a gift for Manivel's sister, as one might do.
For the next six months, they proceeded to live a lifestyle that many of us could only imagine until it all came crashing down.
Aside from buying the house for her sister, Manivel also bestowed a significant amount of money upon her daughter.
After a prolonged legal dispute, Crypto.com won a portion of its lawsuit against Manivel. Consequently, she was compelled to sell the property and return the funds, along with interest, to the company.
According to his ruling, Justice James Dudley Elliott stated: "It is established that the Craigieburn property was acquired with funds traceable to the wrongful payment and would never have been in Gangadory's hands if the wrongful payment had not been made."
"Thus, Gangadory was unjustly enriched by receiving the purchase price of the Craigieburn property out of the wrongful payment."
"Accordingly, I was satisfied that the orders relating to the sale of the Craigieburn property were appropriate."
According to Justin Lawrence of Henderson and Ball Lawyers, who spoke to 7NEWS: "There's no doubt that if you saw that in your account you would know it shouldn't be there, and the onus is actually on you to actually call the sender and to say look that shouldn't have come into my account."
"If you're withholding property of someone else you're effectively holding property by deception, you're not entitled to it, you need to give it back."
