‘Tis the season: Tax scam resurfaces in Red Deer
City Mounties say the CRA tax scam has reared its ugly head in Red Deer again this week.
Police say more than 30 Red Deerians have reported calls from scammers today, claiming they owe money to Revenue Canada and demanding payment in untraceable wire transfers, gift cards, Steam cards (an online game), prepaid credit cards or bitcoin.
The scam has many variations – sometimes it uses pre-recorded messages, sometimes numerous calls from a person who continues to increase the level of their threats of arrest or deportation in ongoing attempts to pressure their victims into sending money. Several recent files saw the scammers call back after successfully victimizing Red Deerians once, telling them they owed even more money. One Red Deer complainant reported that their phone display showed the Red Deer RCMP complaint line number, and that the scammer claimed to have a warrant from the Alberta RCMP for their arrest. This false use of a legitimate name or phone number is commonly used by scammers – it’s called number spoofing.
No matter the variation in the approach scammers take, key facts are always the same: