Forwarded to us by Canadian Pensioners Concerned: “The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) warns all Canadians to beware of telephone calls, mail, or email that claim to be from the CRA but are not. These are phishing scams that could result in identity thefts. Email scams may also contain embedded malware, or malicious software, that can harm your computer and put your personal information at risk. The CRA does not email Canadians to request personal information.
“Canadians should especially beware of phishing scams asking for their personal information, such as social insurance, credit card, bank account, and passport numbers. Some of these scams ask for this personal information directly, and others refer the taxpayer to a Web site resembling the CRA’s where the person is asked to verify their identity by entering personal information.
“Examples of recent email scams that have been circulating include notifications to taxpayers that they are entitled to a refund of a specific amount such as $521.51 or $671.08; or informing taxpayers that their tax assessment has been verified and they are eligible to receive a tax refund. These emails are not from the CRA.
“To better equip taxpayers to identify possible scams, the following guidelines should be used:
- The CRA never requests, by email, personal information of any kind from a taxpayer.
- The CRA will never request information from a taxpayer pertaining to a passport, health card, or driver’s license.
- The CRA will not divulge taxpayer information to another person unless formal authorization is provided by the taxpayer.
- The CRA will not leave any personal information on an answering machine.”
See the full text of this bulletin.
