By Laine Mitchell (Twitter: @Laine_Mitchell)

Drayton Valley RCMP warning residents of phone scams

Aug 30, 2018 | 2:12 PM

Drayton Valley RCMP are warning the public about several different telephone scams that have recently been reported. 

The first scam involves individuals receiving phone calls from someone impersonating Canada Revenue (CRA) Employees. These individuals will tell the taxpayers that they have a warrant for their arrest and in order to not get arrested, they have to pay money or get gift cards and provide them to the scammers. 

Mounties would like to remind the public that the CRA would never request someone to pay money over the phone, and would not accept gift cards as payment.

In an added twist, the scammers have been using spoofiing mechanism which will show that the call is coming from an RCMP Detachment in order to convince the victim that they are not scammers. 

Another scam involves the caller advising the person that their ITunes account has been hacked and request ITunes cards as payment. 

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They tell the victim that if they do not comply, then their account will continue to be hacked and that any of their personal information will be accessed. 

The RCMP are reminding residents these are not actual calls from the CRA and should be reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at http://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/ or by calling 1-888-495-8501.

Do not share any personal information with the caller, such as confirming the name, social insurance number, address etc. 

You are asked to report any attempts of this kind to the Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 and the Drayton Valley RCMP.