(NORFOLK COUNTY, ON) – The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Norfolk County detachment is re-issuing a warning to residents about fraudulent phone calls that are being received by concerned residents from Norfolk County, Ontario addresses.
On Tuesday, November 24, 2015 police received a complaint from a concerned resident reporting that they had received a phone call from an unknown male, indicating the he was from the Canada Revenue Agency.
The male suspect informed the homeowner that a criminal investigation had been conducted and arrest warrants were being prepared. The male indicated that officers from the OPP were going to attend the homeowners address or work place and arrest them for tax evasion, violation of Federal taxes and tax fraud if they didn’t comply with his requests.
The male then stated that they could take care of this issue by forwarding approximately $2,000 dollars through a money transfer service immediately or they would contact the Sheriff’s office. The male then threatened that the homeowner would be arrested and held in custody for approximately 72 hours. The funds were forwarded through the use of a money transfer service.
On Wednesday, November 25, 2015, police received another complaint from a resident indicating that they had forwarded approximately $4,200 dollars through a money transfer service after receiving the same call from someone claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency.
Police are reminding all residents to be extremely vigilant if you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency or a police service inquiring about personal information and demanding payment on behalf of the Canada Revenue Agency. These types of calls are designed to create anxiety and complete shock for the unsuspecting resident resulting in personal and financial information being disclosed.
The OPP would like to provide some additional information to better equip residents of Norfolk County to identify those communications that do not come from the CRA. The following general guidelines are provided.
The Canada Revenue Agency 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 or threatening messages on an answering machine.
When in doubt, ask yourself the following:
Am I expecting any calls from the CRA?
Does this sound too good to be true?
IS the caller able to identify themselves with an ID number that you can verify?
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?
The Norfolk County OPP would like to remind the public that the CRA does not contact people by telephone and the CRA never arrests anyone for outstanding balances owed