Calgary Police are again reminding residents to be aware of a scam that is taking aim at members of the city’s South Asian community.
Over the past month, police say that a group of people have been impersonating representatives of the Canada Revenue Agency and calling members of the South Asian community.
They tell them a story that they’ve ignored written warnings about money owing and they are contacting them to collect.
Victims of the fraud are then advised to purchase pre-paid debit cards for large sums of money and let the caller know the number and the PIN access number.
This gives the fraudsters immediate and untraceable access to the money.
The callers also threaten the victims that if they do not comply with their instructions, police will be sent to their home to arrest them.
Variants of the scam include threats to deport the victims back to their home countries.
Police remind residents that these attempts are complete scams and to ignore such demands.
First of all, the CPS does not perform this type of collection enforcement for the CRA and the CRA does not use these types of tactics to collect unpaid taxes.
If you are contacted and threatened in this this, do not comply with the instructions.
If you are genuinely concerned that the demands are real, collect full contact information from the caller and contact the authorities directly for more information.
Unfortunately, if you have already fallen victim to these scammers, it is very difficult to recover the money you lost.
If you believe that you’ve been a target of a scam like this, or been the victim of any fraud, please contact police.
If you are contacted by phone and threatened in this way, do not comply with these demands. If you are concerned these demands are real, take down full contact information from the caller and contact police or Canada Revenue Agency directly.
Once you have complied with a fraudster’s request, it is very difficult for the police or anyone else to help you get your money back, and you continue to be a target for these individuals into the future.
If you believe you are being targeted, or have been the victim of any fraud, please contact police.
