Dealing with the real Canada Revenue Agency can be scary enough.  Dealing with the fake, scam type is considerably worse.

At tax time every year, scam artists phone unsuspecting consumers trying to bully them into sending them unwarranted payments.

Constable Meagan Fillion with the RCMP says the scammers mostly use the same technique.  

"These telephone scams involve threatening taxpayers by using aggressive and forceful language to scare people into paying fictitious debt to the Canada Revenue Agency.  Victims receive a phone call from a person claiming to work for the CRA saying that taxes are owed.  The caller requests immediate payment by credit card or convinces the victim to purchase a pre-paid credit card and call back immediately with the information."  

Fillion says the scammers often use the same threats.  "The tax payer is often threatened with court charges, jail or deportation."

According to Fillion, there are things you should know to guard against becoming a victim.  "The CRA never requests pre-paid credit cards such as iTunes for payment.  The CRA never shares your tax payer information with another person unless you have provided the appropriate authorization, they never ask for information about your passport, health card or driver's license and they never leave personal information on your answering machine or voice mail or ask you to leave a message with personal information."

Scams can also be in the form of an email or text message.  If you receive communication saying you owe money to the CRA call them before you do anything else.  

 

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