With March less than a couple of weeks away, Canadians are not the only ones getting ready for tax season.
No shortage of unscrupulous scammers are also preparing their never-ending attempts to con people out of their hard-earned money; their prime targets typically being seniors and immigrants.
Whether by email, phone, text message, and sometimes even in person, we should all be sure to know the warning signs that indicate when a con artist is trying to take us for a ride.
Among the most common scams during tax season are fake communications that pose as legitimate correspondence from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), requesting personal information such as social insurance, credit card, bank account or passport numbers, to supposedly process a refund.
Sometimes, the scammers will even resort to tactics such as intimidation, coercion and outright threats of legal action against victims to persuade them into paying a fictitious debt to the agency.
While the government undoubtedly wants people to pay their taxes that fund the services and programs we expect, the agency is not about to threaten anyone with arrest or a prison sentence. So should you find yourself being intimidated, that’s probably the first sign you’re dealing with a con artist.
When in doubt, never hesitate to simply hang up the phone, ignore the text, delete an email — never click on any embedded links — or even ask a person for their credentials to make a note of who they claim to be.
Then contact the CRA directly yourself to follow up. There are many phone numbers to call depending on whether the matter has to do with individual or business tax debt, but those numbers are all available online. If you don’t have access to a computer or the Internet, visit Sundre's library where a free membership grants unlimited access to the Internet.
Of course tax season is not the only time that fraudsters ramp up their efforts to defraud people. Their campaigns continue throughout the year. They can take the form of seemingly legitimate financial institution correspondence with copy-pasted logos, phishing attempts for personal information by posing as a relative through details found online, as well as the lonely-hearts scams that prey on emotionally vulnerable and isolated individuals.
Deceptive attempts to steal someone’s personal information should be reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre either online or by calling 1-888-495-8501. Additionally, anyone who might be worried they inadvertently divulged private details to a fraudster should call the Sundre RCMP detachment at 403-638-3675.
A little foresight goes a long way and provided people know how to recognize the red flags, we're confident our readers can avoid being duped.
— Ducatel is the Round Up’s editor
