diff --git a/packages/cosmwasm-stargate/src/cosmwasmclient.ts b/packages/cosmwasm-stargate/src/cosmwasmclient.ts
index 71660ff2..9ad71383 100644
--- a/packages/cosmwasm-stargate/src/cosmwasmclient.ts
+++ b/packages/cosmwasm-stargate/src/cosmwasmclient.ts
@@ -154,8 +154,8 @@ export class CosmWasmClient {
     try {
       const account = await this.forceGetQueryClient().auth.account(searchAddress);
       return account ? accountFromAny(account) : null;
-    } catch (error) {
-      if (typeof error === "string" && /rpc error: code = NotFound/i.test(error)) {
+    } catch (error: any) {
+      if (/rpc error: code = NotFound/i.test(error.toString())) {
         return null;
       }
       throw error;
diff --git a/packages/stargate/src/stargateclient.ts b/packages/stargate/src/stargateclient.ts
index 27c09e3a..3d441537 100644
--- a/packages/stargate/src/stargateclient.ts
+++ b/packages/stargate/src/stargateclient.ts
@@ -214,8 +214,8 @@ export class StargateClient {
     try {
       const account = await this.forceGetQueryClient().auth.account(searchAddress);
       return account ? accountFromAny(account) : null;
-    } catch (error) {
-      if (typeof error === "string" && /rpc error: code = NotFound/i.test(error)) {
+    } catch (error: any) {
+      if (/rpc error: code = NotFound/i.test(error.toString())) {
         return null;
       }
       throw error;