(NORFOLK COUNTY, ON) – The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Norfolk County Detachment is investigating an attempted fraud that was reported to police from a resident at a Mann Avenue, Norfolk County, Ontario address.
On Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at approximately 7:16 p.m., a concerned resident reported that they had received a call from an unknown person claiming to be from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
The unknown callers advised the homeowner that they were required to pay $1,200 dollars for owed taxes or would face criminal charges. They were also instructed to purchase a pre-paid Visa card in order to avoid prosecution. Once the pre-paid Visa was purchased the authorization code for the Visa was to be provided in order to clear off the outstanding balance.
The Norfolk County OPP would like to remind everyone to be extremely skeptical of any unsolicited communication from people purporting to be from the RCMP collecting outstanding taxes on behalf of the Canada Revenue Agency. The communication has high potential to be a scam whether it is through the telephone, mail, or email. Be especially careful if there is a request for personal information.
Also be aware: the OPP and RCMP do not contact individuals for the purposes of collecting fines or taxes and NEVER asks the public to make a payment over the telephone.