Schreiber – NEWS – The Schreiber Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are reminding the public about phone scams where the caller pretends to work for the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and demand payment by either gift cards or sending money.
Some warning signs of these fraudulent calls are:
- A sense of urgency: The caller will make the request sound very urgent, which may cause the victim to not verify the story. The caller may tell the victim that an arrest warrant will be put out if there is non-payment or the police are on their way to arrest the victim.
- The request of a Money Transfer: The caller will tell the victim to send money by using Money Gram, Western Union or even through the victim’s own bank.
- The request of payment using gift cards: The caller will tell the victim to purchase various types of gift cards (iTunes, Google Play, Steam, Walmart) and then text them pictures of the card numbers
The Ontario Provincial Police remind you that the CRA will never ask for personal information through email, text messages or by having you click on a link.
If you receive a call from someone posing as a CRA represent and have suspicions, hang up. Check and verify the information with the CRA by calling a trusted phone number that you have found and not the number provided by the caller.
If you believe that someone is posing as a Canada Revenue Agency official, hang up. You can file a complaint through the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), or online at https://www.tipsubmit.com/start.htm.
If you are a victim of a fraud or scam, contact your local police detachment at 1-888-310-1122 or you can self-report the incident at www.opp.ca/reporting
