Ontario woman has mystery person with the same name added to her bank account

TORONTO -

An Ontario woman is speaking out after she says a stranger was mistakenly added to her bank account as a co-owner without her knowledge or consent.

Markham woman Asra Fatima, who is nine months pregnant, told CTV News Toronto that on June 27 she noticed that additional accounts had been added to her RBC account.

Moreover, she said that an “unknown person” had been assigned as a co-owner to her online banking profile.

“I immediately called the call centre and spent almost the entire night trying to get hold of someone who could help and have this sorted out,” Fatima said in an email.

She said she was advised the incident appeared to be related to fraud and was instructed to contact the bank’s digital fraud department.

A day and several transactions made by the mysterious co-account holder later, Fatima said she was told by a bank representative that the issue was a result of a case of mistaken identity.

“An internal employee messed up the account due to two customers having the exact same name,” she said.

Hoping to rectify the issue remotely, Fatima said she was informed that she would need to travel to a branch in person.

“I am nine months pregnant and due anytime this week. With all the problems, sleepless nights and stress RBC has caused, I was left with no option but to risk my and my baby’s life by walking into a branch to have this further escalated,” Fatima said.

Once at the branch, Fatima said she was told it would take 48 hours to have the unauthorized accounts, and unknown co-owner authorization, removed permanently.

Fatima’s husband Safwan Khan drove her to the appointment and said he was distraught that his wife was faced with this issue so close to the birth of their third child.

“She’s had a really hard time with this, to be honest,” Khan said. “Rather than us focusing on the pregnancy, we’ve been forced to worry about what’s happening with the bank.”

In a statement to CTV News Toronto, RBC apologized for the situation.

“We recognize that this was an unfortunate situation for our client and we apologize for any inconvenience and concern this may have caused,” RBC said.

The bank said it is looking into the matter further and that they have reached out to Fatima to discuss the situation.

Khan said that none of his wife’s own funds were unaccounted for following the incident.