Over the last week Central Hastings O.P.P has received numerous complaints indicating that a telephone tax scam is circulating in the area.
On April 29, 2016 a resident of the Municipality of Marmora and Lake contacted police after she responded to a telephone call from a male claiming to be employed with the Canada Revenue Agency. The scammer alleged the resident owed back taxes and that she needed to repay her debt by purchasing prepaid credit cards and gift cards.
Through repetitive phone calls that were harassing in nature the resident felt intimidated to follow the scammer’s demands which resulted in her being defrauded of thousands of dollars.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre cautions the public of “Tax Scams” where fraudsters attempt to scam consumers and businesses by impersonating the Canada Revenue Agency. Taxpayers should be vigilant when they receive, either by telephone, mail, text message or email, a fraudulent communication that claims to be from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requesting personal information such as a social insurance number, credit card number, bank account number, or passport number.
These scams may insist that this personal information is needed so that the taxpayer can receive a refund or a benefit payment. Cases of fraudulent communication often involve threatening or coercive language to scare individuals into paying fictitious debt to the CRA. Other communications urge taxpayers to visit a fake CRA website where the taxpayer is then asked to verify their identity by entering personal information. These are scams and taxpayers should never respond to these fraudulent communications.
For more information about Fraud Scams involving the CRA visit the Canada Revenue Web page at www.cra-arc.gc.ca/scrty/frdprvntn/menu-eng.html