Scammers Purport To Be Revenue Canada Agents

(PERTH COUNTY, ON) –The Perth County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has responded to numerous incidents in the past month where residents have received calls from scammers who say they are Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) agents and demand payment for taxes owing.

One resident received a call from a phony agent who advised him that there was a warrant for his arrest and that he needed to pay his taxes immediately. He was told that he needed to buy prepaid VISA cards in order to pay back the debt and call with the numbers for the credit cards once they were purchased in order to pay the bill. The unsuspecting resident completed the purchase of the credit cards and began providing the numbers for the credit cards to the suspect, but then became suspicious and disconnected the call. The resident contacted the Canada Revenue Agency and discovered that they did not make the call. The resident also confirmed with the RCMP that no arrest warrant existed.

Other Perth County residents have been contacted by callers who say they’re from Canada Revenue who tell the individuals that they owe money and to pay or go to jail. They have also been told that the local police will kick their door in and arrest them if they do not pay immediately.

The Perth County OPP would like to remind residents that they may receive, either by telephone, mail, or email, a communication that claims to be from the Canada Revenue Agency. Do not provide information until you have actually verified that it is the Canada Revenue Agency that is contacting you. Many phony communication requests ask for personal information, such as a social insurance, credit card, bank account, and passport numbers. These fraudulent communications are also referred to as scams or phishing.

Phony callers often insist that personal information is needed so the resident can receive a refund or benefit payment.

Another common scam refers the person to a Web site resembling the CRA’s Web site, where the person is asked to verify their identity by entering personal information. The OPP does not want any resident to respond to these fraudulent communications.

The OPP would like to provide some additional information to better equip citizens 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 on an answering machine.

When in doubt, ask yourself the following:

Am I expecting additional money or do I owe money to 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?

Identity theft is becoming more prevalent. Now more than ever residents need to ensure that they secure and protect their personal information.

FRAUD – RECOGNIZE IT….REPORT IT….STOP IT….

For more information on fraud, call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or http://www.antifraudcentre.ca.

Over 150,000 Monthly Readers! 1 Million+ Across the entire FreePress Network.