Canada Revenue Agency scam making the rounds again

(GREENSTONE, ON) – The Greenstone Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has received numerous complaints regarding a scam by criminals posing to be representatives from Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

The criminals extort money from their victims by telephone, mail, text message or email through a fraudulent communication that claims to be from the CRA. 

The communication requests personal information such as a social insurance number, credit card number, bank account number, or passport number.

The fraudsters are very aggressive and continue calling, in attempts to bully or intimidate the person into paying the money. They make false claims to the person owing money that the CRA is going to come and arrest them or collect the money.

Some of the fraudulent communication also involves threatening or coercive language to scare individuals into paying the fictitious debt to the CRA. As well, some 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 nor click on any of the links provided.

If you believe that someone is posing as a Canada Revenue Agency official, hang up. You can file a complaint through the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), or online at https://www.tipsubmit.com/start.htm.

If you are a victim of a fraud or scam, contact your local police detachment at 1-888-310-1122 or you can self-report the incident at www.opp.ca/reporting

Remember, you can Stop Phone Fraud - Just Hang Up!