CRA Phone Scam Continuing to Target Halton Residents

Published January 15, 2018 at 6:56 pm

Residents are warned not to fall for a persistent telephone scam that is continuing to target unsuspecting people.

Residents are warned not to fall for a persistent telephone scam that is continuing to target unsuspecting people.

According to Halton Police, there has been an increasing number of complaints regarding threatening telephone calls that appear to be from the Canada Revenue Agency, demanding payment.

Police are reminding residents that this type of phone call is a scam. The CRA will not use threats to demand payment; the CRA also won’t do certain things that tend to happen in scams, such as:

  • send email with a link and ask you to divulge personal or financial information
  • ask for personal information of any kind by email or text message
  • request payments by prepaid credit cards
  • give taxpayer information to another person, unless formal authorization is provided by the taxpayer
  • leave personal information on an answering machine

If you have been a victim of a scam like this, police suggest reporting it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.

In addition, the Federal Trade Commission is letting consumers know that if they paid money to a scam via Western Union at anytime between 2004 and 2017, they can now file a claim to get their money back at this link.

Stay aware and don’t get scammed!

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