Police are warning people to not fall victim to telephone or email scams from fraudsters who claim to be from Canada Revenue Agency.
North Bay Police have received reports from residents who have been targeted by telephone from people claiming to be employees of Canada Revenue Agency. Nobody has fallen victim to this scam and police advise to simply hang up if you get these calls.
Tax Scam Pitch
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre is the central agency in Canada that collects information on frauds in Canada. It warns that whether by telephone or by email, the tax scam pitch involves one of two variations:
1. The fraudsters are looking for personal information or asking that outstanding taxes be paid by a money service business or by pre-paid debit or credit cards.
2. There is notification by phone or email from the "CRA" claiming there is a refund pending. In order for the recipient to receive the refund they must provide personal information.
How to Protect Yourself
To better equip taxpayers on how to identify scams, Canada Revenue Agency has posted a series of guidelines on their website at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/ntcs/bwr-eng.html.
