OPP Warn of Revenue Canada Scam

Thursday, 13 August 2015 15:27

Scam artists are threatening they will arrest you if you do not forward $500 immediately

OXFORD COUNTY - The OPP are warning the public about the Canada Revenue Agency scam which is making the rounds in the area.

Police nearby in Brant and Norfolk have gotten a couple of calls from people who are getting called by a man claiming to work for the C.R.A and police say the calls could be happening in Oxford as well. How it works is the man tells the homeowners that they haven't been paying their taxes and arrest warrants were being prepared. The scam artist then says the OPP were going to head over to the homeowners address or work place and arrest them for tax evasion and the only to way to avoid arrest is to forward $500 immediately.

No money was handed over in either case and Police are reminding the public to be wary of this or any other scam. They say you should never hand out money to someone who requests it over the phone and to never send funds to anyone unless you are 100% certain you know where that money is going. These types of calls are designed to create anxiety and complete shock for the unsuspecting resident resulting in personal and financial information being disclosed.

The OPP would like to provide some additional information to better equip residents of Brant County to identify those communications that do not come from the CRA. The following general guidelines are provided.

The Canada Revenue Agency 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 or threatening messages on an answering machine.

When in doubt, ask yourself the following:

Am I expecting any calls from the CRA?
Does this sound too good to be true?
IS the caller able to identify themselves with an ID number that you can verify?
Is the requester asking for information I would not include with my tax return?
Is the requester asking for information I know the CRA already has on file for me?
How did the requester get my email address?
Am I confident I know who is asking for the information?