SASKATOON -- A Saskatoon woman is warning others about a fake Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) phone call she received that came from her accountant’s phone number.
Andrea Crittenden says she received a call Thursday morning around 8:30 that came up as one of her contacts, Charles Mowat, her accountant.
When she answered the call, it was an automated voice message claiming that the CRA had a warrant out for her arrest because her social insurance number was being used.
Crittendan says she’s received this scam call many times before but it was the fact that it came from Mowat’s number that raised a red flag.
“I found it very strange and so I went into the contact card of his (Charles Mowat) in my phone and made sure that it was the same number and sure enough it was,” Crittenden told CTV News.
Crittenden recognized it was a scam right away and hung up. She called Mowat soon after to let him know about it.
“It’s scary what’s happening out there and it’s unfortunate that you know a lot of people are being taken advantage of.”
Mowat says he was frustrated and concerned to hear that scammers were using his contact information to add credibility to their scam.
“If they’re using my phone information to contact people, will it come back at me?” Mowat said.
He contacted SaskTel within minutes and said they “unfortunately wouldn't help at all” and that’s an issue for the police, not them.
Mowat didn’t follow up with the police due to “past experience.”
“When I’ve had fraudulent things happen, basically the police’s comments were ‘If you didn’t lose any money we haven’t got time to investigate it.’”
Vanessa Iafolla is an associate professor in criminology at St. Mary’s University and says using a familiar phone number is strategic.
“That’s designed to pique your interest. And so the ability to spoof numbers is something that is a draw for people who are seeking to scam other people by enticing you to answer your numbers.”
Iafolla says it’s always worth reporting a scam to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre so that it knows the changes in techniques for the scams being run.
While the CRA may phone people in the coming weeks, it will never demand immediate payment or threaten you with arrest or sending the police.
For more information on how to protect yourself against fraud, head to the CRA’s website.
