Public Safety Alert, Canada Revenue Agency scam

Public Safety Alert, Canada Revenue Agency scam

Thursday, March 3, 2016 - 3:06 PM
Financial Crimes:  416-808-7300

Toronto Police Service Financial Crimes is reminding the public of the continuing "CRA Scam." Victims are being contacted via phone or e-mail by persons claiming to be Canada Revenue Agency employees. The victims are being advised they owe money to the Canada Revenue Agency, and payment is demanded. Immediate arrest is threatened if the demand is not made.

Victims often believe the calls are authentic, based in part, on call-display information suggesting the caller is calling from a police phone number, or number associated to a government agency.

Police would like to remind members of the public of the following:- phone numbers visible on call display are easily "spoofed" and can never be relied upon to be authentic
- Canada Revenue Agency employees are not peace officers, and have no authority to arrest or to obtain arrest warrants
- police never collect payment on behalf of the Canada Revenue Agency
- Canada Revenue Agency employees will never show up at your door to collect or demand payment
- Canada Revenue Agency employees will not demand payment to be made via money transfer services such as Western Union, MoneyGram, or others. Canada Revenue Agency will not demand taxpayers attend any store to purchase prepaid credit cards as a method of payment.

In order to determine if you have any outstanding matters with the Canada Revenue Agency, please visit the following website:

www.cra-arc.gc.ca

People who have suffered financial losses through the CRA scam are urged to report the matter to their local police service. People who have been only been contacted by "CRA scammers" are urged to report the matter to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center at # 1-888-495-8501, or online at www.antifraudcentre.ca.

Please download the Toronto Police Service Mobile App for iOS or Android.

For more news, visit TPSnews.ca.

Constable Caroline de Kloet, Corporate Communications, for Detective Sergeant Ian Nichol, Financial Crimes