BEWARE OF TAX REFUND SCAM

(HURON COUNTY, ON) – Huron County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) would like to warn citizens of an emerging scam that has surfaced recently in Huron County and elsewhere throughout the region.

Two reported cases to Huron OPP over the last week both involve bogus emails being sent to targets advising them they were eligible to receive tax refunds from Canada Revenue Agency.

A resident from Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh received one of these emails advising him that he was eligible to receive $521.51. In order to receive his refund he was required to complete and submit an online tax refund form. There was a hyperlink in the body of the email where he was supposed to enter in various pieces of personal information such as his Social Insurance Number (SIN), birth date, address and credit card information. He did not fall for the scam and promptly reported the matter to police.

A resident from Blyth received a similar email on December 2, 2013. He responded to the email request to receive a tax refund of $671. He replied with personal information including his credit card number and SIN. He later showed another family member the email whereupon he was informed that it was a scam. He was able to cancel his credit card and flag his accounts prior to losing any money. He also took immediate action by calling Service Canada to report his SIN number had been compromised and to alert them to future fraudulent activity.

Huron County OPP would like to remind everyone to be very skeptical of any unsolicited communication from the Canada Revenue Agency. The communication has the 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.

Quite often there are requests for personal information, such as a social insurance, credit card, bank account or passport numbers. These fraudulent communications are referred to as scams and phishing attempts. The scammer will insist that you provide personal information in order to process your income tax refund or benefit payment. Other times the scammer will direct you to a web site resembling the Canada Revenue Agency’s website where they then ask you to verify your identity by entering personal information. Do not respond to these enquiries.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) does not do the following:

The CRA will not request personal information of any kind from a taxpayer by email.
The CRA will not divulge taxpayer information to another person unless formal authorization is provided by the taxpayer.
The CRA will not leave any personal information on an answering machine.
Any formal letters by the CRA will be addressed to the actual person not, “Dear TaxPayer” as in the case of the two reported attempts in Huron County.

If in doubt, ask yourself the following:

Am I expecting additional money from the CRA?
Does this sound too good to be true?
Is the requester asking for information I would not include with my tax return?
Is the requester asking for information I know the CRA already has on file for me?
How did the requester get my email address?
Am I confident I know who is asking for the information?

Don’t fall for the allure of easy money, if it’s too good to be true it probably is.

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