Fraudulent communications from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) have been recently sent to taxpayers through telephone, email, or text message.

It is important to be cautious and not disclose any information when receiving a message from the “CRA” through these methods of communication.

These scams often insist that personal information is needed in order for taxpayers to receive a refund or a benefit payment or they urge taxpayers to visit a fake CRA website which then asks to provide personal information to verify their identify.

These scams include:

• Receiving an email with a link requesting personal or financial information
• Asking for personal information by email, text message or phone call
• Requesting payments through prepaid credit cards

 

If the “CRA Agent” leaves you a call back number and you call it, it might seem legit but do not provide any information to them. It may seem very realistic but it is really a scam. You can search the phone number online – however, don’t believe the caller ID as technology makes it easy for scammers to fake caller ID information.

DO NOT:

• Provide any personal information by email, text message or telephone call
• Click on any links sent through email or text message
• Say words such as “yes” or “agree”

 

WHAT TO DO TO PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION:

• When you are going on vacation, make sure that a trusted person collects your mail or put a lock on your mailbox.
• Shred your bills and other important documents before throwing them out.
• Update your passwords regularly – don’t use same password for every account/profile. A strong password should include a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols.