Ontario woman loses $500 sending e-transfer to wrong phone number

A Mississauga, Ont. woman helping her aunt buy a flight to visit family in the Philippines was shocked she lost $500 while sending an e-transfer.

“We found out I forgot to change the phone number to her new phone number and she didn't get the money," Rowena Jubinal told CTV News Toronto.

When you e-transfer, you can send it to an email address or mobile phone number, and Jubinal said she had her aunt’s phone number saved previously saved from a prior transaction.

Jubinal sent a $500 e-transfer, the money was auto deposited, but her aunt said she never received the funds.

Jubinal said she realized after that her aunt changed her phone number, so the money went to whoever had her aunt’s old number. So, Jubinal called her bank.

"They said they couldn't do anything because it had already been deposited to the telephone owner's number,” said Jubinal.

In 2022, Interac said there were over one billion e-transfers sent across Canada with very few problems. But,if you do happen to send money to the wrong recipient, it's like you sent cash and it's difficult to get it back.

"From a financial institution perspective, they try their hardest at stopping and holding the funds, but it's not usually possible, because if someone received the 500 bucks they took off with it," Anurag Kar, Associate Vice President of Money Movement with Interac, told CTV News Toronto.

Interac said Canadians send about 2.5 million e-transfer each day. When sending e-transfers, the customer should check information is correct and include an effective security question with passwords that only the recipient would know.

Interac also recommends setting up auto deposit, which is now used in 60 per cent of all e-transfers, which can benefit the person sending the money as well as receiving it.

"We do recommend auto deposit because you have assurance where the money is ending up, you can see the name and the account, and from an experience perspective the beneficiary doesn't have to click on anything to deposit the money - it's deposited automatically" said Kar.

If you have a problem with an e-transfer, Interac says you should deal with your financial institution to see if the funds can be recovered.

Jubinal banks with TD Bank, and CTV News Toronto asked TD to look into her case.

When they did, Jubinal said the bank decided to refund her $500, which was great news for her.

“I feel so happy and I am so thankful to get this back,” said Jubinal.