Skip to content

Thief posing as Revenue Canada staff gets iTune cards

Victim provides fraudster with $3,000 in cards
12429316_web1_VNE-CRAscam
A telephone scam involving people impersonating Canada Revenue Agency staff is getting aggressive in the Shuswap. (Black Press file photo)

Fraudsters pretending to be from the Canada Revenue Agency are getting bolder.

Chase RCMP received a report from a victim who received a phone call from a person claiming to be with the agency. The suspect told the victim they owed federal taxes and threatened the victim with arrest should they not pay the taxes immediately.

The suspect directed the victim to purchase iTunes cards to pay for their overdue taxes. After purchasing approximately $3,000 in iTunes cards, the victim gave the card information to the suspect, allowing the suspect to obtain the full value of the card.

Related: Bank employees save Penticton woman $6k from CRA scam

Cpl. Scott Linklater of the Chase RCMP says that due to technology allowing false phone numbers to be shown on call display, and because suspects are mostly from overseas countries, there is little officers can do to recover the lost money.

He says Chase RCMP have received several similar reports of the Canada Revenue Agency fraud over the past several weeks. Police remind the public that the agency does not take iTunes cards for payment and police do not arrest people for overdue taxes.


@SalmonArm
newsroom@saobserver.net

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter



Martha Wickett

About the Author: Martha Wickett

came to Salmon Arm in May of 2004 to work at the Observer. I was looking for a change from the hustle and bustle of the Lower Mainland, where I had spent more than a decade working in community newspapers.
Read more