Recently I have had two instances of people sending me money via etransfer, but sending it to the wrong email address, which I have no access to. It is very easy to enter a wrong email address when setting up a payee. If the recipient account has direct deposit set up, it is easy to tick the checkbox acknowledging that this is a direct deposit account that needs no secret pass phrase. And it is a common error to send a second email to the same recipient with the secret pass phrase, even though there are several warnings to use an alternate channel, like a phone call, for this.
So be careful sending money via etransfer that you cannot afford to lose. And be extra careful when sending to a recipient with direct deposit.
Here are a couple of articles about the problem.
Warning about losing money with e-Transfer after two people make same mistake
Interac’s E-Transfer Auto-Deposit Creates More Problems than it Solves
