A telephone scam involving someone purporting to be from the Canada Revenue Agency has left a Victoria businessman out a few thousand dollars and sent a woman to the police station because she thought she was about to be arrested.
Police said the man used his credit card to pay a so-called “debt for taxes owed” before realizing he had been duped, while the woman received one of the calls and went to police headquarters because she believed she had broken the law. It took an officer several minutes to calm her down and get her to accept that she was not in any trouble.
The two are among many victims who have been convinced by aggressive callers threatening arrests and fines for tax issues. The callers frequently claim a warrant has been issued for the victim’s arrest.
Many of the victims are seniors, police say.
Victoria police spokesman Bowen Osoko said the department has fielded more than 30 calls from concerned citizens about the issue, with at least eight people coming in to police headquarters on Thursday alone. Nanaimo RCMP said they received more than 30 reports from the public on Friday.
Scammers attempt to get money by trying to get the victim to make a payment using a credit card over the phone, or through other means such as PayPal. In a recent case in Saanich, a victim was persuaded to go to a financial institution to transfer funds, but an employee intervened after recognizing the signs of a scam.
“A reputable government agency will never threaten you with arrest for unpaid taxes over the phone,” said Sgt. Derek Tolmie, a financial crimes detective. “If someone calls you claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency, you can call them at 1-800-959-8281 to verify.”
Tolmie said it is heartbreaking to see innocent people traumatized. “It’s frustrating and needless,” he said. “The best thing people can do is learn to recognize these scams and to talk to their loved ones about them.”
Osoko said it will be difficult for the businessman to recover his money.
“The challenge is often [that the callers] don’t live in Canada.”
Callers are also able to use technology to “spoof” phone numbers, Osoko said. This allows a caller to masquerade as someone else by falsifying the number that appears on caller ID.
“I’ve actually had a call at my house [that looked like it was] from the number for work, claiming that it was the Canada Revenue Agency and that I was going to be arrested.”
The Canada Revenue Agency has issued a warning for the public to beware of the calls. The agency notes that it never requests prepaid credit cards, never asks for details about passports, health cards or driver’s licences, and never asks people to leave answering-machine messages with personal information.
