A 21-year-old student accused of going on a spending spree after millions of dollars were wrongly put into her bank account allegedly hid $1.3 million of the cash by make small transfers into private bank accounts.
Christine Jiaxin Lee, from Malaysia, who has been arrested by immigration officials for breaching her student visa, allegedly hid the money by transferring about $5000 per day into secret bank accounts across Australia.
According to The Daily Telegraph, police will allege that over nine-month period, about $33,000 per week was sent to bank accounts with no connection to Westpac bank, who initially transferred Ms Lee $4.6m after a processing error.
Those smaller payments were minimal enough to avoid raising any alarms with banking officials.
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Student Christine Jiaxin Lee, 21, from Malaysia but living in Sydney, allegedly hid $1.3m of the $4.6m mistakenly transferred to her by transferring about $5000 per day into secret bank accounts across Australia
The chemical engineering student was arrested at Sydney Airport on Wednesday as she tried to board a flight to Malaysia
The chemical engineering student allegedly splashed out $3.3 million in less than a year, making cash transfers and adding to a collection of designer handbags, according to Nine News.
Westpac confirmed the same amount, $3.3m, was still missing and was believed to have been spent or moved overseas, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Ms Lee also lived in a luxury apartment in Sydney's inner west overlooking the harbour, at a cost of more than $3000 per month.
She was due to walk free from police custody on Friday after being granted $1000 bail in court over charges relating to the $4.6 million she wrongly received.
But she was taken into custody by immigration officers and transferred to Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, in Sydney's western suburbs.
'She was taken by immigration and will be held in detention at Villawood,' a police source said.
'She got bail for what she did but the visa is another thing and they'll deal with that.'
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection would not comment on her status.
'It is not appropriate for the Department to comment on matters before the court or an individual's visa status.'
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