A Chinese court has ordered a man to repay 252,281.31 yuan (about RM150,000) after he spent money mistakenly credited to his online account by a technology company.
The case was heard by the Ningxiang People’s Court in Hunan province, which ruled in favour of the Shanghai-based technology company in a dispute over unjust enrichment.
The man, identified as Li, had repeatedly purchased promotional services from the company for his online business.
On Sept 27, 2025, Li transferred 1,000 yuan to the company to top up his account on the platform.
After completing the 1,000-yuan top-up, a staff member accidentally entered another customer’s account ID, 2641993383745792, as the top-up amount, resulting in a large sum being credited to Li’s account.
Li subsequently used the mistakenly credited funds to make purchases on the platform.
The company discovered the error on Oct 17, 2025 and immediately froze Li’s account. It then recovered the remaining balance of 2,641,993,383,484,096 yuan from the account.
The company also cancelled some services Li had purchased but which had not yet been completed, recovering more than 9,400 yuan in related fees.
The Ningxiang People’s Court found that Li had continued using the mistakenly credited funds after the error occurred, resulting in him obtaining an unjust benefit.
After deducting the 1,000 yuan that Li had legitimately deposited himself, the court calculated that he had actually used 252,281.31 yuan of the mistakenly credited funds.
The court ruled that the company had suffered a corresponding loss because it had not received payment for the services provided.
It therefore ordered Li to pay the company 252,281.31 yuan in unjust enrichment.
The ruling has since taken legal effect.
