A scam involving fraudulent communications purported to be from Canada Revenue Agency has been circulating the area.
Occasionally, taxpayers may receive, either by telephone, mail, or email, a communication that claims to be from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) but is not, said Gordon Sims, RCMP crime prevention officer from the Trail and Greater District Detachment.
In all these cases, the communication requests personal information, such as a social insurance, credit card, bank account, and passport numbers, from the taxpayer.
“These fraudulent communications are also referred to as scams or phishing,” said Sims. “Invariably, the communication argues that this personal information is needed so that the taxpayer can receive a refund or benefit payment.”
Another common scam refers the person to a website resembling the CRA's website where the person is asked to verify their identity by entering personal information.
“People should not respond to such fraudulent communications,” said Sims.
To better equip taxpayers to identify those communications that do not come from the CRA, the following general guidelines are provided. The CRA does not do the following:
•The CRA will not request personal information of any kind from a taxpayer by email;
•The CRA will not divulge taxpayer information to another person unless formal authorization is provided by the taxpayer;
•The CRA will not leave any personal information on an answering machine.
You will find examples of a fraudulent letter, emails, and online refund forms on the CRA's Web site
If you have responded to a fraudulent communication and have become a victim of fraud, please contact the RCMP’s Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre by email at info@antifraudcentre.ca or call 1-888-495-8501.