The $3,100 tax refund from Canada Revenue Agency that landed in his little-used bank account in August made no sense to Toronto-resident Jamie Duong. Nor did the sales-tax credit worth $357.61 that arrived in September. For one thing, Duong hadn’t filed a Canadian tax return since 2006. For another, the long-time Canadian resident of the U.S. was ineligible for the HST credit.

It is up to victims to report scams to anti-fraud centre, local police and banks

In fact, the former Montreal resident and the federal government had fallen victim to an apparently unusual scam — one far more subtle than the seemingly ubiquitous fraud in which a scammer, purporting to work for the tax department, calls up and threatens immediate arrest if arrears aren’t paid immediately. A CRA spokesman said CRA has verification procedures and other ways to protect a taxpayer’s account, and takes unspecified additional measures if suspicious activity is identified. Still, he said, it remains up to victims to report scams to the anti-fraud centre, local police and their banks.

Read more about this scam at Metro News.