Don’t Be Fooled
As we come to the end of tax season, scammers and fraudsters are just starting to get busy as they look to trick taxpayers with the latest scams. Canadians eager to get their tax refunds are often the victims of these seasoned criminals.
Taxpayers should be vigilant when they receive any communication that claims to be from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Many of these are seeking your personal information such as a social insurance number, credit card number, bank account number, or passport number.
The CRA will only communicate with you via traditional mail to the address on file and if you are uncertain as to the validity of any mail, give them a call at 1-800-959-8281 to verify it is real. They will never threaten to ‘send the police to arrest you’ and will never ask for payment by interact transfer, bitcoin, or gift cards.
The CRA will only email you to say you have a message in your MyAccount and you should not use the link in the email but instead type Canada.ca/MyAccount into your browser. The CRA will never text you – ever!
These scammers usually insist that personal information is needed so that the taxpayer can receive a refund or access a benefit payment. Often, calls and emails also involve threatening or coercive language to scare individuals into paying a 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 or click on any of the links provided. When in doubt, stop communicating.
The fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated and the CRA has a website to help you identify and protect yourself against these scams. It can be found at www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/corporate/security/protect-yourself-against-fraud.html.
MP – Calgary Confederation Len Webber proudly serves the following Communities: Balmoral, Banff Trail, Brentwood, Briar Hill, Bridgeland, Cambrian Heights, Capitol Hill, Charleswood, Collingwood, Crescent Heights, Dalhousie, Greenview, Greenview Industrial Park, Highland Park, Highwood, Hillhurst, Hounsfield Heights-Briar Hill, Montgomery, Mount Pleasant, Mountview, Parkdale, Point McKay, Queens Park Village, Renfrew, Riverside, Rosedale, Rosemont, St. Andrew Heights, Sunnyside, Tuxedo Park, University District, University Heights, Varsity Acres, West Hillhurst, Winston Heights-Mountview
