Last updated March 1, 2024

You’ve probably received a call, text message or email threatening you with arrest over unpaid taxes. 

Hopefully you were fortunate enough to identify that form of contact as a scam. However, if you followed the instructions, you would have been further threatened by someone claiming to be an agent of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). 

With advancements in technology and the presence of social media, scams involving the CRA have become more and more prevalent.    

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, more than 41,000 Canadians have complained about being targeted by fraud actors in 2023. More than $550 million dollars has been lost to fraud in that same time period, making it another year of substantial losses for Canadians.

Who falls for the scam?

As an immigrant, I am particularly terrified of being on the wrong side of the law in Canada, so I know I would be frantic about getting a call from the CRA.  

With advancements in technology and the presence of social media, scams involving the CRA have become more and more prevalent.

However, as I talk to more people, I realize it’s not just an immigrant thing – everyone is scared of getting contacted by the CRA and potentially being in some sort of legal trouble. 

You may think that you would never fall for such scams. However, these scams persist because they work. Scammers target anyone and everyone at any time. They use sophisticated tactics to deceive their victims and are very good at it.  

One example is Caller ID spoofing, which involves changing the information that appears on the Caller ID display. Illegitimate telemarketers and scammers use this technique to misrepresent themselves and trick people into trusting them.

For example, we’ve heard from someone who received a phone call with the Caller ID showing as “911” that ended up being a CRA scam. The ‘911’ on the Caller ID played a huge part in convincing her of the authenticity of the call. If it had been a random number, she would have likely asked more questions.  

How to identify fraud.

The CRA will never request personal or financial information over the phone, nor will they ever threaten people with police involvement. Here’s a list of things the CRA will never do:

• ask for personal information by email or text message
• request payment by prepaid credit card, gift card or Bitcoin
• share your tax information with another person or organization, unless you have agreed that it can be shared
• leave personal information on an answering machine
• threaten or use offensive language.

When in doubt, call the CRA at 1-800-959-8281 or check your account online.

You should report deceptive telemarketing to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online or by calling 1-888-495-8501.

If you suspect you may be the victim of fraud or have been tricked into giving personal or financial information, contact your local police.

Keep in mind that it’s not just CRA scammers running phone scams and using Caller ID spoofing. You should always be careful giving personal and financial information over the phone or online. If something seems wrong or too good to be true, proceed with caution as it could be a scam.  

For further guidance and to report scams, consider contacting the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.