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Tax season, a busy time of year for fraudsters.  Thumbnail

Tax season, a busy time of year for fraudsters.

Please share this information with your family and friends.

As we enter tax season, we feel it is important to remind you that scams significantly increase. We ask that you please be hypervigilant this time of year as the scams are frequent and the criminals responsible have become quite intimidating. Fraudsters know that we are busy preparing and submitting tax forms to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)and they take full advantage of this opportunity to attempt to defraud taxpayers and or commit identity theft.

If you receive communication either by telephone, text message or email, where the individual is claiming to be from the CRA and requesting personal information from you; such as your social insurance number, credit card, bank account or passport number it is fraudulent.  

•The CRA will NOT CALL YOU as a primary form of communication
•The CRA will NEVER text message you.
•Email communications requesting you click on a link to visit a CRA website where you are asked to verify your identity by entering personal information is a scam
•CRA would never request payment by money service business, iTunes gift cards or cryptocurrency (ie Bitcoin

In most cases the CRA will use registered mail to contact consumers.

When in doubt, call the CRA yourself at 1-800-959-8281 or login into the CRA’s website securely with the My Account service. CRA’s website is  www.canada.ca

You can report deceptive telemarketing to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online or by calling them at 1-888-495-8501. If you suspect you may be the victim of fraud, have been tricked into giving personal or financial information, or are not sure about a business, government correspondence or phone call - please call your local police department and speak to the Fraud Intake or Fraud Department for advice.