With tax season coming to an end, the Regina Police Service (RPS) is warning Regina residents of the CRA scam attempts that occur throughout the year.
As taxpayers are submitting their information, fraudsters who impersonate the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) attempt to take advantage of this timing to appear legitimate to potential victims either through the phone or email contact.
The CRA issued its own warnings about these phone and email frauds.
In one type of event, the caller says that the recipient is under investigation, and he or she must cooperate or their Social Insurance Number (SIN) will be “flagged” or compromised. The caller’s aggressive manner typically causes the victim to stay on the phone, or call back. The conversation then usually leads the victim to reveal personal identification information, or financial information, and in some cases – agreeing to pay some fictitious debt.
If the “pitch” comes by email, the recipient is urged not to respond or click on links provided in the email. Similar scams are also attempted through text message.
The CRA advised they do not conduct business in this way, and are inviting people to contact them directly if they have questions about their own accounts.
CRA does not request or issue payment by money-transfer services, such as Interact e-Transfer, gift cards (such as iTunes cards), or digital currency such as BitCoin.
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Scams like this are often successful because people react out of fear and confusion. The RPS is advising to always take time to ask questions, and then take more time to do an independent verification of the information you’ve received.
To report the existence or recurrence of phone scams, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 to make a report.
Anyone who has been a victim of this type of scam, or any other, is asked to come to the front desk of the RPS to make a report.
More information about recognizing scams is available here.
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