It’s not every day that you wake up to find a cool bank transfer of AUD750,000 in your account. That’s what happened to Australian Abdel Ghadia. One fine day in October 2020 he woke up to find that sum of money had been deposited into his bank account by mistake.
The money had been transferred to him by a couple who meant their savings to go towards the purchase of a new house.
Unfortunately for them, they keyed in the wrong bank details and the money went to Ghadia instead.
Ghadia didn’t waste any time going on a spending spree. In fact, he bought himself gold bullion worth AUD600,000 from stores in Sydney and Queensland.
Ghadia claims that it was for a loved one and the gold is yet unaccounted for. He also spent nearly AUD6,500 on clothes from Uniqlo and JD Sports and makeup from MECCA. Police flagged him down in October 2021 and his excuse was “he had no idea how [the money] got there and that he did tell the bank”.
Ghadia who is 24 years old appeared in Sydney’s Burwood court on November 9 and pleaded guilty to two counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Ghadia even went on Instagram on Aug 4 to boast about the police tapping his phone calls and asking him where the money from the bank transfer went.
According to a report in the Fairfield Advocate the court was told the unnamed couple were in the final stages of buying a new home when they transferred AUD759,314 to Ghadia instead of the Commonwealth Bank account as intended.
Ghadia told the police he just woke up and saw the money.
Here’s breakdown of Abdel Ghadia’s wild shopping spree: (source: Daily Mail)
- ABC Bullion, Sydney CBD: $598,188 spent across six visits including 14 gold bars of various weights.
- Ainslie Bullion, Brisbane: $62,843 on a 500g gold bullion and 10oz bar, $48,222 worth of gold KHC coins were also purchased.
- International Money Market: $14,490 in foreign exchange.
- ATMs across Sydney: $13,600 in cash withdrawn.
- Westfield Paramatta: $6235 on clothes from Uniqlo and JD Sports, and makeup from MECCA.
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