Yahoo Finance Woman arrested after bank mistakenly transferred $1.6m to her account
An American woman has been arrested after Charles Schwab bank accidentally transferred US$1.2 million (AU$1.6 million) into her account, which she then spent on a new car and house.
Charles Schwab was only meant to transfer over US$82 (AU$108) to 33 year old Kelyn Spadoni, however mistakenly transferred a significantly greater sum, nola.com first reported.
However, by the time Charles Schwab realised its error, Spadoni had allegedly transferred the funds into another account before using it to buy a 2021 Hyundai Genesis sport utility vehicle and a new house.
Spadoni was arrested on charges of theft, bank fraud and the illegal transmission of monetary funds, sheriff’s office spokesman Captain Jason Rivarde said.
“She has no legal claim to that money,” Rivarde said.
“Even if it was put in there by mistake. It was an accounting error.”
Around 25 per cent of the money is yet to be recovered.
“If someone accidentally puts an extra zero on a utility payment, they would want that money returned or credited to them,” Rivarde said.
“This is no different.”
Charles Schwab has also sued Spadoni in court, alleging she ignored their attempts to recover the money.
Her arrest comes after an American couple faced similar charges in 2019 after spending US$120,000 (AU$175,00) that had been accidentally deposited into their account due to a teller mistake.
They allegedly spent the money on a car trailer, an SUV, two four-wheelers, a camper and a car trailer and also gave away money to friends in need.
And in 2010, Australian man Luke Moore received AU$2.1 million due to a bank error which he spent on jewellery, art and exotic cards. He was later jailed for fraud and convicted of deceiving the bank.
However, that conviction was overturned in 2018 by the NSW Criminal Court of Appeal which found Moore could not have known he was deceiving the bank.
Monopoly owner Hasbro last month decided to remove its “bank error in your favour” card from the game, with the card commonly associated with mistaken beliefs about bank errors.
