HALIFAX – A Halifax woman says a scam involving the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has left her feeling powerless and vulnerable.
Chengcheng Shen moved to Halifax from Beijing about a year ago to attend the University of King’s College. She never expected that during her time in Canada, she would become the victim of identity theft.
“My heart hurts so much because I’m here by myself, with no family,” she said.
The ordeal for Shen, 26, began Tuesday when she received an email claiming to be from the CRA. The master’s student had been expecting a tax return and did not think the message was out of the ordinary.
She said the email told her about a $930 return, and to “please click on that link and put in some of your personal information, and then we can deposit the money to your account.”
Shen, who has never filed a tax return before, clicked on the link, which took her to a website that looked like it was run by the tax agency.
She typed in her first name, last name, birthday and social insurance number (SIN), not knowing the significance of a SIN. After she pressed enter, she landed on another page.
“It asked me to put in my address and then my credit card number,” she said, noting that she does not have a Canadian credit card. “That’s when I got suspicious.”
Shen called the Dalhousie International Centre, where someone told her she had been scammed — news that was devastating to the young woman.
“I feel like I’m very vulnerable in a foreign country. This is the time that I feel like I’m powerless,” she said. “I don’t know what the consequences will be.”
Shen reported the incident to her bank, the Halifax Regional Police and the CRA. Then she spoke with the Anti-Fraud Centre, which told her to call the credit bureaus to set up a fraud alert on her credit score and clear any potential identity-stealing viruses from her laptop.
“It’s so overwhelming. It’s just scary,” she said. “I just don’t know what the criminals are capable of doing with my information.”
Identifying scams is the specialty of Det.-Const. Dana Drover with the Halifax Regional Police-RCMP Integrated Financial Crime Section.
Drover said the CRA scam is not new, but one that is often recycled, especially around tax season.
“Identity theft is a very lucrative crime, unfortunately. Once your identity information is stolen, it can be reused and recycled any number of times for any length of time.”
Drover said it is important for people to be on guard while online — no matter if they are making a simple purchase, taking out a loan or even applying for a mortgage — because fraudsters can use and abuse personal information.
“If a total stranger came up to you and said ‘I would like to have your…name, address, phone number, date of birth, SIN and bank card information’, your likely response would be ‘no,'” he said.
Drover said people tend to be more relaxed online when in fact, the opposite approach is necessary
“Any time anyone is asking for that information, take a few moments of pause and decide. Is it really necessary? Is it required? And who is this person?”
He suggested some tips to protect against identity theft online, including:
- do not click on links embedded inside email messages
- open websites (e.g.. for the CRA, the bank, etc.) in a new browser window
- set up an alert on your credit score, so you can see when someone tries to apply for credit using your personal information
The RCMP has set up a web page with information about online scams (click here to see it) and another with tips on how to recognize email fraud and phishing attacks (click here to see it).
Always report fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at info@antifraudcentre.ca or by dialing 1-888-495-8501 or online by visiting the CAFC website
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