I'm guessing if any of you were accidentally given free money by your bank, you'd go on one big fuck off shopping trip and take advantage of that opportunity.
That's exactly what happened to 21-year-old Christine Jiaxin Lee when her bank inadvertently increased her overdraft limit to £2.4million.
As any of us would have done, Christine saw this as a blessing and decided not to say anything to her bank about the mistake.
Credit: Christine Lee via Facebook
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For four years the chemical engineering student quite literally shopped until she dropped, spending a total of £1.7million.
However, after buying a shit tonne of handbags and luxury items, it all ended disastrously for the student.
According to news.com.au, Christine was arrested at Sydney Airport last night when she attempted to flee the country using an emergency passport. She was charged with obtaining financial advantage by deception and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
The student's boyfriend, Vincent King, who lives in north west Sydney with Christine, claimed to have no knowledge of the mistake made by Westpac bank.
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That's a bummer for him, imagine the amount of meals and cinema trips he's had to pay for while his girlfriend swanned around as an accidental, secret millionaire.
Vincent arrived at Waverley Local Court today where he bailed her out.
Credit: news.com.au
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Unfortunately, it was later revealed that Christine would have to spend a further night in custody due to an issue with her boyfriends identification and the $1000 he paid.
Magistrate Lisa Stapleton questioned whether the 21-year-old's use of the money was an actual proceed of crime, given that it was a mistake made by the bank that was simply taken advantage of.
"It isn't proceeds of crime. It's money we all dream of," she said.
She went on to say that police would struggle to prove that the spending of the money was illegal.
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Prosecutor Marc Turner said that Westpac and police had made attempts to contact her about the money since 2012, but she failed to return emails or calls.
It wasn't until March this year that a warrant was issued to investigate the student, and that was when she applied for an emergency passport in order to leave Australia.
The terms of Christine's bail are very strict, she has had to give up her emergency passport and is prevented from ordering a new one, as well as having to report twice a day to a police station.
Words by Mark McGowan
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Featured image credit: Christine Lee via Facebook
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