Fraud reports continue to pour in to police

According to the Prince George RCMP,  they are receiving many fraud reports every day. 

“Although the type of frauds being reported varies, the most popular remains the tax fraud,” said Corporal Craig Douglass.

“Fraudsters impersonating employees of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will call or e-mail the victim providing one of several different stories. In most local cases the fraudster states that a
payment must be made immediately or an arrest warrant will be issued or already has been issued and the RCMP will arrest them. This is not the case.”

Douglass said fraudsters use things like money-wiring companies or cash cards because they are untraceable and irreversible.

“In some cases, the persons are told to deposit the money in a specific bank account. If you do not pay right away, the fraudsters keep calling and are very aggressive. The CRA does not use any of these tactics,” said Douglass.

In order to avoid tax scams, he said to remember the following general words of advice:

• Do not take immediate action. The government has processes in place to acquire owed money, none of which are immediate;

• Know who you are dealing with. Obtain their contact information and search for it on the internet. Often the contact info will be associated with frauds and not the CRA. This is a clear warning that this is not legitimate;

• Hang-up and call the Canada Revenue Service. CRA, like most government agencies, have a toll free phone number in the blue pages of the phone book or from their website, www.cra-arc.gc.ca;

• Never give your personal information to anyone that calls you over the phone. This is especially the case when an organization such as the Canada Revenue Agency calls and should have all your necessary information already;

• Never agree to wire back funds to the government. Our governments do not do business this way.

For more information and resources on fraud, you can follow this link.