The old school tactics used by fraudsters around the world still seem to work on the Orangeville community as seven residents in the past two months have fallen victim to the Canadian Revenue Agency scam.
In a newly released Orangeville police report, the seven residents have been defrauded out of a combined $12,000 due to a scam that’s been around for decades. In a news statement, police constable Scott Davis points to the aggressiveness and convincing nature of the fraudsters, as to why the CRA scam is still working.
The suspects disguise themselves as agents of the CRA and call victims to address outstanding debts owed. Victims are told to pay an outstanding amount immediately or face being arrested. Furthermore, scammers told the residents they targeted to purchase gift cards from various large retail store such as Shoppers Drug Mart, Home Depot and Walmart. Instructions to purchase gift cards from iTunes and Bitcoin currency are also common. The Canadian Revenue Agency scam is nothing new to police, gaining prominence in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Upon buying the gift cards, the fraudsters instruct the victims to provide the serial numbers for each of the cards so they can access the currency attached.
Individual losses have ranged anywhere from $200 to $4,000. Several other residents have been targeted but didn’t become victims.
Victims are reminded that CRA will never ask you to deal with outstanding debt in the form of gift cards or bitcoin.
Read the full story over at Orangeville.com
This story was summarized by Canadian Fraud News Inc.
