A STUDENT spent a whopping £2million on a lavish lifestyle and designer handbags after her bank accidentally gave her an unlimited overdraft.
Christine Jiaxin Lee, who was studying in Australia at the time, also splashed out on pricey apartment, while hiding chunks of the money by transferring around £2500 a pop into secret bank accounts.
While Lee was arrested and charged for the crimes, they were dropped when she went before the court.
The Malaysian woman then fled home to her family, and is now basically untraceable.
Lee, who was a chemical engineering student, was given an unlimited overdraft by her bank Westpac following a processing error – but didn't notice for two years.
However, when she did she went on an 11-month spending spree – which added up to around £2.6m.
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The then-21-year-old's extravagant purchases included designer handbags, clothes, jewellery, mobile phones and a vacuum cleaner.
These items were made by a number of luxury brands including Chanel, Cartier and Christian Dior.
She also lived in a lavish penthouse apartment.
The error was picked up by the bank in April 2015 – almost a year after Lee started spending up large – and a senior manger phoned her, demanding she explained where the missing millions were.
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Lee previously claimed that she believed the money had been transferred into her account by her parents.
Her boyfriend, Vincent King, denied knowing about the funds.
When she found out the police were trying to contact her about the money, Lee is understood to have arranged for herself to be granted an emergency Malaysian passport, allegedly so should could leave the country undetected.
She was then arrested at a Sydney airport the same year, when she tried to board a flight to Malaysia.
Lee faced charges of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
At the time, her lawyer Hugo Aston told a court in Sydney that although Lee had been dishonest, she had not committed any deception because the error had come from the bank.
The charges against her were dropped in 2017, and prosecutors did not give a reason for withdrawing the charges.
Lee's lawyer told BBC at the time: "She has returned to Malaysia with her family and is happy to be getting back to her normal life."
He also said many items purchased by Lee had been seized and returned.
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She was also declared bankrupt, and Westpac spokesman said the bank had "taken all possible steps to recover its funds".
No update has been given on Lee since, and she appears untraceable online.
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