diff --git a/app/controllers/api/account.php b/app/controllers/api/account.php
index e1ddeb6b68..20ce2541c5 100644
--- a/app/controllers/api/account.php
+++ b/app/controllers/api/account.php
@@ -290,7 +290,9 @@ App::post('/v1/account')
                 $existingTarget = $dbForProject->findOne('targets', [
                     Query::equal('identifier', [$email]),
                 ]);
-                $user->setAttribute('targets', [...$user->getAttribute('targets', []), $existingTarget]);
+                if($existingTarget) {
+                    $user->setAttribute('targets', [...$user->getAttribute('targets', []), $existingTarget]);
+                }
             }
 
             $dbForProject->purgeCachedDocument('users', $user->getId());
diff --git a/app/controllers/api/users.php b/app/controllers/api/users.php
index abfcb34a5a..9d08fcf784 100644
--- a/app/controllers/api/users.php
+++ b/app/controllers/api/users.php
@@ -138,7 +138,9 @@ function createUser(string $hash, mixed $hashOptions, string $userId, ?string $e
                 $existingTarget = $dbForProject->findOne('targets', [
                     Query::equal('identifier', [$email]),
                 ]);
-                $user->setAttribute('targets', [...$user->getAttribute('targets', []), $existingTarget]);
+                if($existingTarget) {
+                    $user->setAttribute('targets', [...$user->getAttribute('targets', []), $existingTarget]);
+                }
             }
         }
 
@@ -160,7 +162,9 @@ function createUser(string $hash, mixed $hashOptions, string $userId, ?string $e
                 $existingTarget = $dbForProject->findOne('targets', [
                     Query::equal('identifier', [$phone]),
                 ]);
-                $user->setAttribute('targets', [...$user->getAttribute('targets', []), $existingTarget]);
+                if($existingTarget) {
+                    $user->setAttribute('targets', [...$user->getAttribute('targets', []), $existingTarget]);
+                }
             }
         }