Now that it is income tax time again, fraudsters are impersonating Revenue Canada employees in order to extract money from their victims.
Two Huntingdon residents contacted us on Thursday after having been approached by this type of criminal. Please note that on the same day, the RCMP issued an alert concerning this kind of fraud after being notified about a case in New Brunswick.
For the two residents that we met, the procedure was the same. « Impersonators of Canadian Revenue Agency employees asked the victims to pay unpaid income taxes. These impersonators, who had foreign accents, were aggressive and often said that they would come to the victim’s home and arrest them if they didn’t pay. They insisted that the full amount be paid immediately by credit card or Western Union. Some of these scammers appear legitimate, because they have a program that allows them to post a number for Revenue Canada or a police service on the victim’s call display, » as stated on the RCMP web site.
What to do?
Under these circumstances, the RCMP recommends that you hang up immediately and above all do not provide any personal information, such as identification numbers, pass words or financial information.
Contact the Canada Anti-fraud Centre immediately at this toll free number 1-888-495-8501.
For more information about how to protect yourself against fraud, consult the Canada Anti-fraud Centre web site at: www.antifraudcentre.ca.
