The 10th fraud used against seniors

The 10^th fraud used against seniors is the Income Tax Scams

Scammers, who pose as Canada Revenue Agency agents, will use emails, phone calls and regular mail and even text messages to get money and personal information. Often the phone calls seem urgent and the scammers will use aggressive language or threats to scare people into making payments. 

To protect yourself from this type of fraud, do not respond; report the call to the police. My simple rule is that if the phone rings, and I do not know the number, I don’t answer the phone. If you receive an email from Revenue Canada, delete it. Remember that Revenue Canada will only contact you by letter. 

If you receive, either by telephone, mail, text message or email, a communication that claims to be from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requesting personal information such as a social insurance number, credit card number, bank account number, or passport number, it is a fraud.

These communications may insist that this personal information is needed so that you can receive a refund or a benefit payment. The communication could also involve threatening or coercive language to scare individuals into paying a fictitious debt to the CRA. Other communications may urge you to visit a fake CRA website where you are asked to verify their identity by entering personal information. These are scams and you should never respond to these communications or click on any of the links provided.

To identify communications, not from the CRA, be aware of these guidelines (taken from Revenue Canada Website).

If you receive a call saying you owe money to the CRA, you can call us or check My Account to be sure.

If you have signed up for online mail (available through My Account, My Business Account, and Represent a Client), the CRA will do the following:

• send a registration confirmation email to the address you provided for online mail service for an individual or a business; and
• send an email to the address you provided to notify you when new online mail is available to view in the CRA's secure online services portal.

The CRA will not do the following:

• send 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.
• give taxpayer information to another person, unless formal authorization is provided by the taxpayer.
• leave personal information on an answering machine.

Exception:

If you call the CRA to request a form or a link for specific information, a CRA agent will forward the information you are requesting to your email during the telephone call. This is the only circumstance in which the CRA will send an email containing links.

When in doubt, ask yourself the following:

• Did I sign up to receive online mail through My Account, My Business Account, or Represent a Client?
• Did I provide my email address on my income tax and benefit return to receive mail online?
• Am I expecting more money from the CRA?
• Does this sound too good to be true?
• Is the requester asking for information I would not provide in my tax return?
• Is the requester asking for information I know the CRA already has on file for me?