As News 4 told you in mid July fraudsters are still calling up unsuspecting Winnipeg’s and claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
TAX SCAM | POLICE WARN OF TAX SCAM VIA PHONE
The fraudsters will contact the victim by either telephone or e-mail. They will then try to obtain your personal information and will then tell you that you have outstanding taxes. Unfortunately they are often very aggressive even going as far as saying that they have the police on the way to the victim’s door to arrest them if they do not pay immediately. In many cases this causes the victim to become afraid and want to do anything to comply with the fraudster. The fake CRA scam seems to be targeted mostly at new Canadians as they are not as familiar with the Canadian tax or justice system.
The fraudster will then suddenly realize how you can immediately pay your outstanding taxes by going to a store and purchasing a prepaid credit or gift card or by going to a money transfer business. Once the fraudster has the details about the card or the transfer the money is gone, often out of Canada, and cannot be recovered.
Tips to remember:
– The Canada Revenue Agency has your identity information and will not use the phone to solicit it.
– The CRA will never ask you to purchase gift cards or to attend a money transfer business.
– If you do receive a phone call, contact the CRA, with a phone number that you look up, to confirm the details.
If you would like to learn more about tax scams or other types of fraud, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre: http://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca
Protect yourself: never agree to requests for payment without researching the validity of the caller.
-News4 Staff-