RCMP warn public of CRA scam making rounds
By Boundary Sentinel
During the holiday season people are known for being a little more charitable.
However, the festive season also brings out crooks who find ways of tugging on purse strings of the public in fraudulent ways.
Constable Andrew McCabe of the Nelson RCMP warns the public in a media release about the fraudulent requests for money transfers during the holidays.
“We recently had an incident brought to our attention by a member of the public in the Nelson area stating they had received a request from a government agency (Canada Revenue Agency), suggesting they owed them a large sum of money,” McCabe explained,
“and that they were required to pay the amount in full.”
McCabe said the member of the public fortunately contacted the government office by phone prior to taking any action.
“(The person) confirmed that the communication and the request to repay the money were both fraudulent and had not originated from their office,” he said.
Police want the public to be vigilant when they receive, either by telephone, mail, text message or email, a fraudulent communication that claims to be from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requesting personal information such as a social insurance number, credit card number, bank account number, or passport number.
These scams may insist that this personal information is needed so that the taxpayer can receive a refund or a benefit payment. Cases of fraudulent communication could also involve threatening or coercive language to scare individuals into paying 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.
The CRA website said these are scams and taxpayers should never respond to these fraudulent communications or click on any of the links provided.