A scammer claims to be an employee of either the Canada Revenue Agency or Service Canada. They state that you:
- have overdue taxes and you will be arrested if they are not paid immediately
- have a compromised SIN number
- contact you by telephone, mail, text or email.
The scammers may request payment via money service businesses, pre‐paid cards/gift cards (iTunes, Google Play or Steam cards) or Bitcoin.
The CRA will NEVER:
- Send an email with a link and ask you to divulge personal or financial information.
- Ask for personal information of any kind by email or text message.
- Request payments by prepaid credit cards, Western Union, MoneyGram or iTunes gift cards.
- Give taxpayer information to another person, unless formal authorization is provided by the taxpayer.
- Leave personal information on an answering machine.
To report a fraud or scam, please contact 604.946.4411, report online, or contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.