Tax season is in full swing, and fraudsters are taking full advantage.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) are warning the public nationwide of a recent scheme hitting the digital world.
CRA spokesperson David Nunes, said in this recent case, the scammer has possession of their target’s Social Insurance Number (SIN) and uses that to pose as an employee of the CRA.
“This information did not come from the CRA, but it came potentially from some sort of data leak from other places,” he said. “And it's something that [everyone] should be very well aware of ... they might be seeing some scams now with their personal information, so they have to be extra cautious in today's world.”
Telltale signs that a text, email, or phone call is coming from a fraudster, include aggressive behaviour, lack of professionalism, and requests for bitcoin.
In any of these situations, Nunes advised that the victim ignores the messages or hangs up the phone, and immediately contacts their local police.
“Scammers are sometimes trying to come after your money but nowadays it's just as important to protect your personal information because fraud through your personal information could be just as harmful," he added.
Individuals who suspect they’ve been the target of a scam can check the latest scam alerts to see if it’s something that has been reported.
The next important step is to loop in the Anti-Fraud Centre; the more information they receive on a circulating scam, the better they can work to put it to an end.
The CRA will not use text messages or instant messages to start a conversation with anyone about taxes, benefits, or My Account. More tips on what to do when falling victim to a scam can be found here.