Two Ontario residents warn others to check their Interac e-mail recipients before sending transfers after losing money by making the same mistake.
Although Interac says that the vast majority of wire transfers are sent without any problems, if you send a wire transfer to the wrong person, it can be difficult to get your money back.
“This is not a case of scammer, it’s not a scammer, it’s just me making a mistake,” Toronto’s Kestrel Gibson told CTV News Toronto.
Gibson wanted to transfer $ 3,000 from one of his accounts to another, but accidentally sent it to his old phone number, a number that now belongs to someone else.
This person received their funds and, as they had set up the automatic deposit, the money was automatically deposited into their account.
“Because I had her phone number, I called her and she answered the phone and heard what I had to say, but then she hung up and since then she hasn’t received any of my calls,” Gibson said. .
Tim Heffernan of Toronto owed his accountant $ 2,700 for services and sent him two wire transfers, but accidentally sent them to someone on his list of beneficiaries with whom he did business seven years ago, who had almost the same name except one letter. .
“I was very frustrated to make the mistake in the first place,” Heffernan said, adding, “I almost immediately recognized that it was a mistake and that I had sent it to the wrong person.”
Interac says that wire transfers are like sending cash, so users need to make sure they have the right details before they click send.
“We always encourage you to check who you send it to, these details are accurate and, if it’s an automatic deposit, they validate the legal name. These are best practices,” said Anurag Kar, associate vice president of Interac Corporation. , on CTV News. Toronto.
Kar said Interac is the network that facilitates payments and that any errors in sending wire transfers should be reported to your bank.
“Your first step should always be to get in touch with your financial institution and they can start their process to investigate what happened to the money,” he said.
In Heffernan’s case, the person sent $ 2,000 but was left with $ 700 and expects to send the rest.
Gibson’s appeal to his bank for a refund of his funds was denied, but the bank agreed to review his case again after being contacted by CTV News Toronto.
Gibson said that if he has to do so, he will go to a small claims court to get him $ 3,000.
“That’s my money I’ve earned and I’d like to get it back.”
Interac said that currently nine out of ten people send electronic transfers and that the number continues to grow each year, with 49% of customers doing so more often since the start of the pandemic.