Don't Be Victimized By CRA Phone Scams - Ask The Expert with Greg Marcyniuk

Greg shares tips for dealing with fraudulent calls from scammers pretending to be with the Canada Revenue Agency. 800 CHAB radio presents Ask the Expert with Greg Marcyniuk of Heritage Insurance located in Moose Jaw

Here's a transcript of this episode:

Rob Carney: Today with Greg Marcyniuk from Heritage Insurance in downtown Moose Jaw. Today, we're talking CRA, Canada Revenue Agency and the scams that are happening right here at home, sir.

Greg Marcyniuk: That's right Rob. I had a client the other day phone me, and he came so close to being defrauded of $9200 it was crazy. These people are trained professionals. They call you up. They intimidate the hell out of you. They said, "You owe this amount of money." My client said, "No, I'm sure I paid it." Because he is a business owner, he'd made an installment, and he went back. They said, "Well, check and call us back." So they checked, called him back and he said, "I paid it." And then they threatened to have him arrested. So he said, "Well, you can't do that." He was all rattled, hung up the phone. Anyway, he got a call back, and it 911 was what was showing up. He answered, and they said, "This is Regina police service. We're coming to arrest you. Where are you?" And of course, they're rattled, he's rattled, and he hangs up. And fortunately for him, he calls me and I says, "Well, listen you can tell them where to go because, first of all, you require a court order to arrest you, but CRA doesn't operate that way."

So if you do get a call like that and they want any personal information, do not give any information out whatsoever because CRA does not work that way at all. If there is any information, they'll have it via email. You can go to what they call MyAccount, you can sign on, you can look on there and see what you do have owing. So I do encourage that as well. If you do get defrauded, like you know, sign up through their MyAccount, and as far as providing your email address, income tax or benefits, only to CRA online, on the approved website. And again, just be very aware that CRA does not work in that manner.

If you have been a victim, you should get a hold of the Canadian Antifraud Center online. You should definitely contact the police and let them know about it. The biggest thing is there could be some coverages for you in the event of this, but the thing is just be aware of these scams. Don't let them intimidate you. Hang up on them, and just don't take the crap from them because the fellow that I'm talking about, very shrewd business man, and he actually came close to going down getting a money order. And that's another thing they don't do is they ask for money orders, just don't do it. So, again, just be aware of it. There's a lot of these scams that are going on and they are focusing, typically, I was surprised they were focusing on someone like that, they typically do focus on older people that are more intimidated. So just be aware out there.

Rob: Yeah, and if you have any questions at all phone the CRA, go to MyAccount on their website, and get your questions answered there. And for insurance coverage on fraud, we contact Heritage Insurance. There's all sorts of different companies, all sorts of different packages that we can choose from.

Greg: That's correct, Rob You can come down here to the corner of Fairford and First, or give us a shout and talk to any of our fine people. Check it out online at heritageinsurance.ca.

(Video transcription by Speechpad)

Don't Be Victimized By CRA Phone Scams - Ask The Expert with Greg Marcyniuk

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