Every year, residents in our community fall victim to fraud. Most people don’t think it could happen to them, but fraudsters are using increasingly sophisticated methods to target citizens of all ages across the province and country. March is Fraud Prevention Month and the Manitoba RCMP is taking this opportunity to inform citizens about some recent fraud schemes and what they can do to avoid becoming victims.
The RCMP and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) have been warning Canadians about an ongoing scam in which taxpayers across the country receive phone calls or emails from individuals impersonating CRA employees. These people are scammers. The scammers tell taxpayers that they either owe money to the CRA or have a tax refund. Taxpayers are threatened with arrest or jail time if they do not take immediate action and provide money or personal or financial information.
When CRA employees call taxpayers, they follow established procedures to ensure personal information is protected. To confirm the authenticity of a call, contact the CRA by using its official telephone number for individual tax enquiries: 1-800-959-8281. You can also verify your individual tax account through a secure CRA portal.
If you believe you may be the victim of fraud or have given personal or financial information in error, contact your local police service and your financial institution.
Over the past few months, police in multiple jurisdictions have received complaints from residents who say they were phoned by someone pretending to be a police officer in order to obtain personal information from them. While there are various versions of this fraud, most involve callers asking for payment for outstanding fines or minor offences. If you receive such a call, it is a scam. Police remind citizens that they do not ask for financial information and do not accept payment for infractions over the phone.
As more and more citizens choose to communicate online, police have seen an increase in the proliferation of illegal online activities. A recent scam that has surfaced involves victims in chat rooms being tricked into sending explicit photos of themselves to the person they are chatting with online. After gaining the victim’s trust, the scammer threatens to post the photos to the victim’s social media accounts unless payment is received. Police are concerned that young people could fall victim to this scam and are advising parents to speak with their children about internet safety and what they share online.
These are just a few examples of recent frauds being perpetrated by tech-savvy criminals. If you believe you have been the victim of fraud please contact the local police in your area.
