Collingwood and The Blue Mountains OPP are warning the public about an ongoing Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) scam targeting the area.
According to police, in the last month, officers have responded to three calls where fraudsters pretending to be CRA officials have managed to obtain almost $6,000 from victims.
Police say the scam begins when fraudsters posing as CRA or bank employees contact a victim via phone or email.
Officers say the fraudster begins phishing for identification, personal information and claims that the victim has outstanding taxes to be paid. The fraudster will often request the outstanding balance be paid by a money service business or by pre-paid gift cards. Police say most commonly fraudsters request iTunes cards or cryptocurrency.
According to police, the caller will usually use threatening or coercive language and will tell the victim that failure to pay will result in additional fees or that a warrant will be issued for their arrest.
Police say the fraudulent emails often contain a link to a fake CRA website, where the victim is then asked to verify their identity by entering personal information.
Police say in one case, the victim was asked to make several deposits into a Bitcoin machine to pay off taxes owed to the CRA. After doing so, the fraudster called the victim again claiming that she owed more money and needed to make further deposits.
Officers say the victim contacted her bank and police were called.
According to police, in another case, officers were called to a local business where an employee said a customer had purchased several iTunes cards and was possibly being scammed.
Police investigation revealed that the customer had already given the iTunes card numbers to the fraudster after being told she owed money to the CRA.
Police say it was too late to get the money back from the cards.
According to police, only five per cent of calls are reported to authorities, suggesting there could be a number of potential victims of this scam.
In order to avoid becoming a victim, police advise residents to first check with family members or trusted friends to verify the information before sending money or providing credit card information by phone or email.