Mother accused of spending spree after mistakenly receiving $10 million in crypto bungle heads to trial

A Dandenong North mother accused of going on a spending spree with more than $10 million which was accidentally transferred into her account has faced court.

Thevamanogari Manivel and her partner, Jatinder Singh, are both accused of theft offences after the funds were put into their account by cryptocurrency company Crypto.com on May 12 last year.

The court heard a Crypto.com employee in Bulgaria was meant to be sending a customer a $100 refund but instead entered an account number into the payment details section and accidentally transferred more than $10 million to the couple.

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Singh allegedly believed he had won the money after being sent a notification from the Crypto.com app about a competition to win $10 million.

However, Crypto.com compliance officer Michi Chan said there was no such competition and said they did not send out push notifications to tell users about competition winnings.

After receiving the money, the court heard Manivel went on a spending spree, buying four houses – including one worth $1.35 million in Craigieburn – multiple vehicles, art and furniture.

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The court heard $4 million was also transferred to a Malaysian bank account.The company did not notice the mistake until an audit was conducted in December 2021.

The mother of three was arrested at Melbourne Airport in March this year. Prosecutors said she was trying to flee to her home country of Malaysia on a one-way ticket.

Both Manivel and Singh have pleaded not guilty and will now be sent to trial in the County Court.

Cryto.com is also taking civil action against Manivel in the Supreme Court. She has since paid back more than $7 million but almost $3 million is still missing.

- Reported with AAP