An e-mail-based scam that purports to be from Canada Revenue Agency but is actually a fraudulent attempt to gain personal information is once again hitting inboxes.
The message, often on official-looking letterhead, will say there is unclaimed money from the CRA and all the recipient needs to do is provide certain information so the file can be "updated" and the monies released.
The information requested can include social insurance, credit card, bank account, and passport numbers and the sender asks for the information to be e-mailed or faxed to a provided number.
The request may sound reasonable but RCMP and CRA say it's really an attempt to gain identity and banking information, so accounts can be accessed through false pretenses.
What's more, the CRA says it will not request personal information of any kind from a taxpayer by e-mail.
CRA officials will occasionally leave messages on taxpayers' answering machines along with a request to have social insurance numbers available upon callback, but they will not leave any personal information on an answering machine.
To verify the authenticity of a CRA telephone number, check the telephone numbers page on the CRA's website, www.cra-arc.gc.ca.
