Do you think that it is almost impossible for a mere mortal to steal a million from a bank without going to jail? Life is more interesting than chase movies.
Two young followers of Ostap Bender from Australia managed to steal millions of dollars from the bank and Themis closed her eyes.
In July 2014, the bank provided her with an overdraft (the ability to withdraw a certain amount of money without having it in the account). But due to an oversight by the bank, it turned out that it was possible to withdraw not just a few hundred dollars, as is usually practiced, but any amount without a limit.
Having discovered that her current account was bottomless, the foreign student rushed to buy everything she could. Clothes, bags, shoes, jewelry from Dior, Hermes and Chanel, mobile phones. For 11 months, the fan of luxury brands did not deny herself anything.
Almost a year later, the mistake was finally discovered: the bank manager called Christine Lee demanding to know where the nice sum with a lot of zeros had gone.
The girl realized that since the bank knew about what had happened, the police would soon be aware of the matter. Lee decided to quietly escape from Australia, applying for an emergency passport at the Malaysian consulate so that the document would not be exposed.
The adventurer was arrested at Sydney airport when she tried to board a plane to Malaysia.
An investigation began and it seemed clear that the checkered sky was shining for the dashing embezzler. A fantastic story similar to a movie spread throughout the Australian media.
During the investigation, it turned out that the girl hid $1.3 million in numerous bank accounts, while claiming that she considered this money as financial assistance from her parents.
However, as a result of the epic, Lee did not receive a prison sentence or even a fine.
Quite unexpectedly, on December 1, 2017, the prosecutor dropped criminal charges against the student, citing a similar case in which a 20-year-old guy fraudulently (due to a system error in the program) obtained $2.1 million in cash from an ATM.
With this money, the guy bought himself an Aston Martin, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, a speedboat and even several masterpieces of art. He also became a regular at strip clubs.
He was arrested only 2 years after his brilliant breakthrough through ATM security systems.
But when they tried to put him in prison, justice failed. Moore was initially found guilty of fraud and given 2 years and 3 months in prison. But a higher court level overturned the verdict in December 2016 when appealing for a review of the case. The judge considered that there was no corpus delicti in the case under the article on fraud.
Interestingly, the type of account Moore used was called "Total Freedom." Bank St. George, which suffered a system glitch, is also owned by Westpac, the corporation responsible for Malaysian student Christine Lee's windfall.
After his release from custody, the guy lives with his mother and eats instant noodles. He said he doesn't miss the life of a multimillionaire, "except for the cocaine, strippers and fast cars."
“With age comes wisdom and confidence and I learned that money can't buy everything - but it was great while it lasted.”
Now the guy is 27 years old. He is studying to become a lawyer.
Two young followers of Ostap Bender from Australia managed to steal millions of dollars from the bank and Themis closed her eyes.
CASE No. 1.
A 21-year-old student from Malaysia, Christine Jaxin Lee, managed to steal a round sum of $4.6 million from the Australian bank Westpac and avoid criminal prosecution.In July 2014, the bank provided her with an overdraft (the ability to withdraw a certain amount of money without having it in the account). But due to an oversight by the bank, it turned out that it was possible to withdraw not just a few hundred dollars, as is usually practiced, but any amount without a limit.
Having discovered that her current account was bottomless, the foreign student rushed to buy everything she could. Clothes, bags, shoes, jewelry from Dior, Hermes and Chanel, mobile phones. For 11 months, the fan of luxury brands did not deny herself anything.
Almost a year later, the mistake was finally discovered: the bank manager called Christine Lee demanding to know where the nice sum with a lot of zeros had gone.
The girl realized that since the bank knew about what had happened, the police would soon be aware of the matter. Lee decided to quietly escape from Australia, applying for an emergency passport at the Malaysian consulate so that the document would not be exposed.
The adventurer was arrested at Sydney airport when she tried to board a plane to Malaysia.
An investigation began and it seemed clear that the checkered sky was shining for the dashing embezzler. A fantastic story similar to a movie spread throughout the Australian media.
During the investigation, it turned out that the girl hid $1.3 million in numerous bank accounts, while claiming that she considered this money as financial assistance from her parents.
However, as a result of the epic, Lee did not receive a prison sentence or even a fine.
Quite unexpectedly, on December 1, 2017, the prosecutor dropped criminal charges against the student, citing a similar case in which a 20-year-old guy fraudulently (due to a system error in the program) obtained $2.1 million in cash from an ATM.
CASE No. 2.
Unemployed Luke Bret Moore accidentally discovered a loophole in 2010 that allowed him to withdraw any amount of money from an ATM at a certain time at night. At this time, the system was rebooted and the availability of funds in the account was not checked, although the transaction was recorded. In a short time and 50 transactions, he managed to withdraw more than $2 million in cash.With this money, the guy bought himself an Aston Martin, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, a speedboat and even several masterpieces of art. He also became a regular at strip clubs.
He was arrested only 2 years after his brilliant breakthrough through ATM security systems.
But when they tried to put him in prison, justice failed. Moore was initially found guilty of fraud and given 2 years and 3 months in prison. But a higher court level overturned the verdict in December 2016 when appealing for a review of the case. The judge considered that there was no corpus delicti in the case under the article on fraud.
Interestingly, the type of account Moore used was called "Total Freedom." Bank St. George, which suffered a system glitch, is also owned by Westpac, the corporation responsible for Malaysian student Christine Lee's windfall.
After his release from custody, the guy lives with his mother and eats instant noodles. He said he doesn't miss the life of a multimillionaire, "except for the cocaine, strippers and fast cars."
“With age comes wisdom and confidence and I learned that money can't buy everything - but it was great while it lasted.”
Now the guy is 27 years old. He is studying to become a lawyer.
