In addition to the ever present hidden threats rolling around in cyber space, there is the constant barrage of “in your face” scams designed to steal your money, or worse, your identity.
At the best of times, scams run rampant.
Add tax time to the picture, and the scams ramp up.
Now add COVID-19 government relief measures, organizations fund raising, and businesses selling goods and services, and the scams have multiplied exponentially.
Considering this reality, here’s some insight on how to identify and protect yourself from targeted scammers masquerading as Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
A CRA representative will never demand immediate payment by credit card, interac e-transfer, prepaid gift cards or bitcoin.
A CRA rep will never set up a meeting with you to pick up a payment.
A CRA rep will never use aggressive language or send the police or threaten arrest or prison sentence.
Specifically by phone, if a CRA rep calls you they will identify themselves by an employee number.
They will ask you to prove your identify by name, date of birth and social insurance number.
A CRA rep will not ask for any detail from your passport, drivers license or health card.
Alternatively, after the CRA rep has identified themself, you may ask for their contact phone number and offer to call them back.
Then you contact CRA directly to verify the CRA rep is a CRA employee, and then call the CRA rep back.
A CRA rep may leave a voicemail but the message will never state your…
