Many scams and frauds attempt to imitate government services in order to gain access to your personal and financial information. Beware of official looking mail that appears to be from Revenue Canada. In some cases, the Government of Canada will send you mail. For example, the Canada Revenue Agency may send you mail about your taxes, such as a Notice of Assessment.
Some scammers send fake mail pretending to be from the Government of Canada asking for personal and financial information. The letters can be very convincing and look real. Before you act, confirm if the letter is official communication.
The CRA will not
- set up a meeting with you in a public place to take a payment
- demand immediate payment by:
- Interac e-transfer
- Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin)
- Prepaid credit cards
- Gift card from retailers such as iTunes, Amazon, or others
- threaten you with arrest or a prison sentence
The CRA may
- ask for financial information such as the name of your bank and its location
- send you a notice of assessment or reassessment
- ask you to pay an amount you owe through any of the CRA’s payment options
- take legal action to recover the money you owe
- write to you to begin an audit process
- write to you to offer free tax help for your small business
What to do if you’re a victim of a scam
If you suspect that you may be the victim of a scam or fraud or have been tricked into giving personal or financial information, contact your local police service.
Report a scam
To report a scam call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at: 1-888-495-8501
Call the CRA if any of the following occur:
- you think your CRA account has been compromised
- you find changes you did not request to your banking, address, business, or personal information
- you find a benefit application made for you without your knowledge
- you want to disable online access to your information in CRA sign-in services
- you want to enable online access to your information in CRA sign-in services after it has been disabled
Call the CRA: Individuals: 1-800-959-8281
If the CRA has confirmed that a taxpayer’s information has been compromised, the agency will act to prevent the fraudulent use of the information involving systems and processes for which the CRA is responsible.
Make sure to ask the CRA to put enhanced security measures on your account. With enhanced security measures, the CRA call centre agents will ask additional security questions to verify your identity.
For more information visit the scam alert section of the CRA website here.
