I mean, we’ve all fantasised about it. Maybe some of us have tried mashing random button combinations on the ATM in the hope of cracking its Konami code.
But… like… what would you actually do if you happened to wake up one morning and discover that the bank has accidentally gifted you a fucking fortune?
The answer to that, as it turns out, is not “spend that shit on handbags,” because that’s precisely the predicament that’s seen a 21-year-old Sydney woman saddled with a raft of high-level fraud charges.
Around four years ago, when the woman was 17, a Westpac system glitch inadvertently gifted her access to an unlimited overdraft account, which made some $4.6million available to her as credit.
Rather than alert the bank to the error, or leave the overdraft be, the woman instead went absolutely boonta on it and spent some $3.3million on an absolute shitload of luxury handbags.
Overdrafts are essentially unsecured loans that form a part of just about everyone’s regular banking account, and they’re one of those things that the bank absolutely expects you to repay.
With the net apparently closing in around her, the woman was reportedly arrested last night as she attempted to flee to Malaysia after sussing an emergency passport.
Appearing in Waverley Local Court today, Magistrate Lisa Stapleton stated that the amount was “money we all dream about,” and after hearing that the amount outstanding was spent on items including handbags, remarked:
“That’s a lot of handbags.“
Ya don’t bloody say.
Police have been keen to speak to the student for a good while now, and a warrant for her arrest was issued in March. She’s officially up on charges of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
She was granted bail with strict conditions, and is due to front court again in June.
Source: News.com.au.
