Alberta Phone Spammer Posing as CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) Employee

Not only is it time to file your taxes; it's time to be wary of phone scammers posing as representatives of the CRA.


These types of scams have been around before, as reported by Global News...

http://globalnews.ca/news/2444278/cra-telephone-scam-making-the-rounds-again/

But I never expected these perps to call my mom. She had just returned to her Edmonton home after visiting with us in Calgary, and a message on her answering machine claimed to be from the CRA and urged her to call them right away. So she did.

She started to get suspicious when the man said she owed $3,500 and that she needed to have the cash at her home for it to be picked up that day at 5 PM, or end up in court. I had just helped her file her taxes (yours truly used to work at H&R Block for low pay; these days I work with StudioTax pro bono) and she knew she didn't owe a cent. So she told the man:


"You're a bad boy and a fraud!" Mom would know; she's raised boys, and met a few frauds.

Way to call 'em, ma!

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