The taxman scam that aims to intimidate people into disclosing sensitive personal and financial information to someone purporting to be a Canada Revenue Agency "officer" shows no signs of slowing down.
Several local residents have contacted The Tri-City News to say they'd been contacted by the fraudsters, who are known to try and intimidate those unlucky enough to receive such a call, even threatening arrest.
In February a Coquitlam man said he was devastated after being tricked into sending a scammer $8,000, supposedly for taxes that were owed to the CRA.
Two more Tri-City residents reported similar calls in recent weeks.
Now, the Better Business Bureau is also warning people that the CRA tax scam continues unabated — it was the organization's top scam of 2015 and accounted for more than 20% of the frauds reported to its Scam Tracker web page.
The BBB expressed concern that the CRA scam is more prevalent than suspected and is targeting seniors at an alarming rate.
Evan Kelly, a BBB spokesperson for mainland B.C., said he spoke with more than 100 seniors at a Richmond event recently and all had been contacted or are still receiving harassing phone calls from scammers claiming to be from the CRA.
"While this is not an official poll, the number surprised even me," Kelly said in a release. "This scam isn't going away and in fact appears to be growing in intensity."
Canadians have lost nearly $3 million to the scam in 2015, considered to be a low estimate as many people have not reported it.
The BBB noted the scam is also showing up in phishing emails that have been carefully crafted to look like an official government of Canada message.
Const. Jamie Phillipson of Coquitlam RCMP said anyone who receives such a call should report it immediately to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca) or, if you've been tricked into giving out personal or financial information or been the victim of fraud, to their local police agency for further investigation.
"The CRA scam has been one of the most prevalent ways to fraudulently obtain money over the last year," Phillipson told The Tri-City News in an email. "It's important to recognize that these calls are not coming from a legitimate source. They will use intimidation tactics to trick you into giving personal and financial information. One of the best ways to avoid being a victim of a telemarketing fraud is to hang up and report it… immediately."
People can protect themselves from the CRA scam by being aware that:
• The CRA does not solicit by phone for payment or any other personal information, nor does it accept payment through prepaid credit or gift cards.
• The CRA does not send emails containing links nor will it request personal info of any kind from a taxpayer by email or text message. All official emails from the CRA are in both official languages.
• If the CRA needs to contact you, it will be through regular mail first.
• If you receive a call from somebody claiming to be a CRA officer, say you will contact CRA yourself and hang up immediately.
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