Ontario man will get money back after mistakenly sending $5K to stranger

An Ontario father wanting to pay for his son’s college expenses was shocked when he accidentally sent $5,000 to the wrong account.

“I wanted to transfer funds from my account to my son's account to pay off his educational expenses,” Paul Mifsud, of Keswick, Ont., told CTV News Toronto.

Mifsud and his son Kyle both use Wealthsimple, an online investment management service, and he felt transferring the money through this platform would be easy to do.

“It looked all good, $5,000 to my son Kyle. I hit send and boom I was done," he said.

But Mifsud said he became concerned when his son didn't receive the funds and that's when he noticed the money was sent to the wrong account – to someone else, who happened to also be named Kyle.

When the family contacted Wealthsimple, they were told nothing could be done. On its website, the company says “it’s not possible to cancel or recall funds after you've sent them."

Mifsud is frustrated his funds can’t be returned.

An Ontario father wanting to pay for his son’s college expenses was shocked when he accidentally sent $5,000 to the wrong account.

“At this point it's not resolved, I’m out $5,000 and I feel like the victim here," said Mifsud.

Wealthsimple told CTV News Toronto they agreed to review Mifsud’s case.

“We’ve been working with Paul and have reversed the $5,000 money transfer that he shared by mistake,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.

“We’ve also let him know the funds will be returned in the next 24-48 hours. We're deeply sorry for the frustration and inconvenience this caused him.”

Paul Teshmina, Chief Client Experience Officer with Wealthsimple, said, “In this case the client sent money to someone that they didn’t mean to and we actually ended up connecting with both clients and then returned the cash.”

Wealthsimple also told CTV News that starting next month, it plans to add an extra layer of protection for its clients – something it was already planning to do.

“We are actually rolling out some new capabilities next month, so if you’re sending funds to a contact that's new, we will provide an extra verification for you to make sure this is the right person and then if it's not, you can cancel it," said Teshmina.

Mifsud was grateful to get his money back.

"My family my wife, my son we are all delighted and all so relieved,” said Mifsud.

Whenever you're transferring money or paying bills, triple check the account numbers and make sure you have the right person or company, because if you make a mistake it can be difficult, or even impossible, to get it back.