Ho Kai Xin, a former payroll manager at Bybit, has been sentenced to nine years and eleven months in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of fraud and related charges. Ho, was actually employed by WeChain Fintech and managed ByBit’s payroll services. Ho manipulated the payroll data and stole approximately $5.7 million in public fundsas per Wu Blockchain. The time duration of these activities is said to be from May to August 2022.
Ho would exploit her exclusive rights to sensitive payroll information and would transfer the funds to her four personal cryptocurrency wallets.
Ho Wrongfully Transferred Millions To Her Personal Accounts
According to Singapore High Court’s ruling, Ho would maintain Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to track and keep records of 900 ByBit employees. During her tenure, she wrongfully caused ByBit to transfer a total of 4,209,720 USDT (Tether) into her wallets. After which, Ho indulged in shopping spree, purchased a penthouse which was worth $3.7 million, a luxury car for $362,000 and goods from luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton.
Payroll Manager Tried to Ditch Charges
Ho further tried to get rid of the charges by stating and claiming that her cousin had accessed her work laptop and committed the fraud. However, the court could not find a single evidence of this said ‘cousin,’ and finalized a ruling which stated that Ho enacted the entire act alone and facilitated the transfers. The court has also ordered Ho to repay ByBit the value of stolen cryptocurrency, which is about 4,209,720 USDT.
All of this was carried out by manipulating simple spreadsheets. This just indicates how vulnerable it is to manage cryptocurrency payroll through conventional methods like spreadsheets as this instance created a perfect opportunities for internal fraud. This serves as a cautionary tale for other companies in the sector and highlights the importance of a secure payroll system and stringent internal controls within the industry.
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