Are you receiving emails insisting you to click on a link? Text messages promising a benefit payment or refund? Phone calls threatening to send the police if you don’t pay up?
Not only are all of these really annoying, they are all signs of scams!
Scammers continue to pose as the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and other government departments and agencies, to trick you into giving them money or personal information. Unfortunately, they’re still having some success. The amount of money that people have lost to scams and fraud has increased over the years.
Not cool, scammers… not cool!
The two most important things individuals have in defence of scams are awareness and time.
Knowing what to expect when the CRA contacts you can help you tell the difference between real communications from the CRA and scams.
Scammers will try to pressure you and get you to act quickly. Why? Because the more time you have to think about what you’re being asked to do, and the more time you have to go to official Canada.ca web pages to check if it’s legitimate, the more likely you are to recognize it as a scam. The CRA scam alerts page can help you stay up-to-date and avoid the latest scams that may target you.
Remember – when it comes to scams, time is on your side! Take a minute to think about the text, email, letter, or phone call you received. What are you being asked to do? Does it seem unusual, or too good to be true? Are you being pressured with aggressive language or threats?
If it turns out to be a scam, you can report it through the options on the Scams and fraud page, which also includes additional tips and helpful information.
By staying informed, you can avoid scams, and can proudly say – not today, scammer… not any day!
If you suspect that you may be the victim of a scam or fraud or you have been tricked into giving personal or financial information, contact all of the following:
- your local police service
- your financial institution
- credit reporting agencies
You should contact the CRA specifically if you:
- think your CRA user ID or password has been compromised
- find changes to your banking, address, business, or personal information made in your CRA My Account that you did not request
- find a benefit application made for you without your knowledge
- want to disable online access to the CRA’s sign-in services
- want to enable online access to the CRA’s sign-in services after it has been disabled