Police are again warning the public to be vigilant against scams after a North Vancouver woman was taken for more than $10,000.
In this case, it was the fairly common “Canada Revenue Agency” scam, in which fraudsters pretend to be tax collectors over the phone, demanding payments be made immediately under threat of court charges, fines or deportation, something the real Canada Revenue Agency explicitly does not do.
“(She) reported that she was defrauded out of $12,920 by phone by people pretending to be from the CRA, advising that she owed money and she had to pay using iTunes gift cards,” said Cpl. Richard De Jong, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman. “She provided her name, her RBC Avion credit card information and address.”
Once a person has fallen victim, there’s almost nothing police can do to retrieve the money or find the suspects, De Jong said.
“It’s so difficult, because they’re usually out of country or it’s a third-party phone number that comes back to some place in the States or somewhere elsewhere in the world and the money’s gone. These guys are slick,” he said
The victim learned from Apple that all but about $2,000 had been spent.
De Jong said anyone who receives a call or email demanding payment of taxes or other fines should very be very critical, demand verification and watch for signs the person calling or emailing is not on the level, like using broken English or botching the names of official government agencies.
“The message is, again, do not give money to anybody until you confirm the source and the legitimacy of it,” he said.
If you receive such a fraudulent call, hang up and report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.
