Scammers spoofing OPP phone numbers to confuse the public: OPP

Scammers who pose as employees of the Canada Revenue Agency are spoofing phone numbers that belong to the Ontario Provincial Police in an effort to defraud people of personal information, the OPP detachment in Russell said in a release Tuesday.

Police say that suspects are leaving messages or are calling claiming the person owes money and if they do not pay they are going to jail. The CRA does not leave these types of messages.

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According to the detachment, earlier this month, a Limoges area woman was contacted by a “CRA officer” advising there were four allegations against her in relation to her income tax and that she would be brought to court. The “CRA officer” then advised the complainant that an Embrun police officer would be in contact with her to continue the conversation. The complainant then received a call from what she believed was the Russell County OPP’s local number. Suspects posed as a police officer demanding her social insurance number or she would be arrested.

The OPP is advising the public again to not provide personal information to these individuals as they say the OPP and other police services will not call your house to advise that you owe money for the CRA or that you will be arrested.

Police have released some tips on how to protect yourself from these scammers:

• Do not take immediate action.
• Ask yourself why the CRA would be asking for personal information over the phone or email that they likely already have on file for you as a taxpayer.
• Ask yourself why the CRA would want you to pay outstanding money with gift cards.
• Contact the CRA to confirm that you, in fact, owe back taxes and do not use the phone number that the caller provides or that is listed on call display. Look up the phone number yourself from a reliable source.
• Do not provide your personal information.

For anyone looking for more information about fraud scams involving the CRA visit the Canada Revenue Agency website.