The Quinte West Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has recently received complaints regarding persons representing themselves as Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) agents.
The OPP would like to remind the public that phone calls soliciting money from the CRA are scams.
The following information is taken directly from the CRA website:
“Taxpayers should 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. These are scams and taxpayers should never respond to these fraudulent communications or click on any of the links provided.”
Just a reminder, CRA, banking institutions, and credit card companies won’t call and ask you for personal information that they already have.
If you suspect that someone is trying to scam you, contact the agency directly, if you believe that you are being scammed hang up. If you have been defrauded contact the OPP at 1-888-310-1122.
