Beware of threatening new phone scam

By Taylor Broderick

BELLEVILLE – There’s a new telephone scam around that involves a man posing as an employee of the Canada Revenue Agency looking for personal information.

The scam involves a man calling you to say he is an officer with the tax agency and that “there is a legal lawsuit that has been filed under your name.” If he doesn’t get an immediate callback, he says,”I’ll have to issue an arrest warrant against you and get you arrested.”

Here’s the full call:

If people call back, they are asked for personal information such as banking details.

This scam, like most others, is widespread and not just focused in one particular town or area. Over the last couple of weeks, the OPP have had several complaints about this one, according to Const. Anthony Mann, community-services officer with the Prince Edward OPP.

This particular scam threatens people and tries to force them into a position where they feel obligated to give out their information, Mann noted.

His advice to residents who get a call from these scammers is to use caution and not release personal information of any kind.

Whether you receive a call or email, or someone comes to your doorstep offering some sort of prize or threatening arrest if you do not pay, the best thing you can do is ask questions and try to get information, Mann said. Ask the person’s name, where they are, and who they work for. If the person claims to be a police officer, they will have a badge and ID number that they would be willing to provide you.

“Basically do your homework to verify that whatever the request is, it’s legitimate and not a bogus scam or fraud,” Mann said.

If the person calling is legitimate they will be more than willing to give their professional information to prove they are who they say, he added. A scammer will not be so accommodating.

“It’s not uncommon that these individuals get hostile on the phone, or threatening in this particular case. They’re threatening that the police will come to their home and arrest them, but the police do not do that,” Mann said.

Some people feel reluctant to hang up the phone because they don’t want to be rude, but Mann said it’s okay to do that. Be aware, however, that you will probably continue to get calls.

Also, take proper steps to destroy your discarded bank statements or any other documents with personal information.

Scammers are often hard to reach and arrest because they don’t normally reside locally, Mann said. Most of the time the scams are operated from outside of the country, he added.

If you have already released personal and banking information to someone who may be a part of this scam, Mann suggests you contact your local police department to make a report and also get in touch with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.