NEWS RELEASE
GUELPH POLICE SERVICE
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The Guelph Police Fraud unit would like to warn residents of a telephone scam involving the CRA – Canada Revenue Agency.
The caller will advise that there is an outstanding debt owed for taxes and that if the dept is not paid the police will be coming to arrest them and they will be held in custody and possibly deported.
The victims are then advised to either e-transfer money or deposit it directly into a bank account, wire money through Money Gram or purchase Pay Pal, pre-paid Visa’s, or most recently iTunes cards.
The victims are often kept on the phone during these purchases to provide the codes or numbers on each card immediately.
People should not respond to these communications. The Canada Revenue Agency will not call to request payment of outstanding debts and they certainly would not request they be made in this way.
To verify the authenticity of a call from the CRA, people should contact them directly at 1-800-959‑8281 or visit www.cra-arc.gc.ca for more information on CRA related frauds.
If you have responded to a fraudulent communication and have become a victim of fraud, please contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre by email at [email protected] or call 1-888-495-8501.
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