CRA phone scam makes local senior a target

By Susan Hofforth

A local senior citizen, a 78-year-old woman, has received several threatening phone calls from someone claiming to be from Revenue Canada. She wants other seniors to be aware in case this happens to them.

The calls are disturbing because they are threatening. The senior said her caller told her she owed $28,000 in unpaid taxes, and that they were going to bring the RCMP over to repossess her vehicle. When she asked questions, the caller became annoyed. “He said, ‘You don’t talk to me, you can speak when I ask you a question’,” the senior said. When she refused to give him information, he told her she would be arrested.

“Well, I didn’t give him anything, but I was sure scared every time a vehicle drove near my house. I was always running to the window to make sure my car was still there.”

She contacted Revenue Canada and the RCMP immediately after hanging up. They told her they have had many similar complaints. Revenue Canada has a specific warning about this scam on their webpage.

Typically, the caller accuses the potential victim of tax evasion or tax fraud and threatens them with prison, or deportation if an immigrant. To avoid jail time, the senior can pay the debt, usually in cash, credit card, or they can purchase pre-paid credit cards. The scammer has even sent a taxi to take the victim to the bank machine.

In most cases, people, like the Whitecourt resident, recognize the scam and refuse to pay up but, still, newspapers across Canada have reported that many are falling for it, and thousands of dollars are lost everyday.

Revenue Canada wants people to know they would never threaten to arrest someone from unpaid taxes over the phone. If you receive a call and are in any doubt, hang up and call Revenue Canada back at 1-800-959-8281. Do not use the number the caller provides.

“I don’t know how many other people he has called,” said the Whitecourt senior. “People have to be careful and know that this is a scam.”