PROTECT YOURSELF AGAINST FRAUD AND IDENTITY THEFT
In this day and age, you can never be too careful to protect yourself against fraud and identity theft. Whether you have experienced it first hand or not, chances are you have heard of the various methods used by criminals to steal your personal financial information. Often these criminals go to great lengths to gain access to your personal information such as your social insurance, credit card, bank account and passport numbers. Unfortunately, many fraudsters claim to be the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in these communications, and the CRA provides warnings and updates on these from time to time. The sole purpose of these communications, which can be by telephone, mail or email, is to gain access to your personal financial information. What this means is that you must exercise caution when you receive any communication that appears to be from the CRA. With technical advancements, it is very easy to create fraudulent electronic and written communications that look authentic.
These communications often claim that your personal information is needed so that you can receive a refund or benefit payment. One common technique used by criminals refers you to a web site that resembles the CRA’s web site where you are asked to verify your identity by entering personal information.
To help differentiate a fraudulent communication from a genuine one, the CRA has provided some general guidelines on their web site. In particular they have provided a list of items which are not in accordance with the way the CRA operates, including the following:
- The CRA will not request personal information of any kind from a taxpayer by email. They generally have the personal information they need.
- The CRA will not divulge taxpayer information to another person unless formal authorization is provided by the taxpayer.
- The CRA will not leave any personal information on an answering machine.
The CRA also provides a list of items that you should consider when you receive a communication from them. In particular the CRA suggests that you ask yourself the following:
- Am I expecting additional money from the CRA?
- Does this sound too good to be true?
- Is the requester asking for information I would not include with my tax return?
- Is the requester asking for information I know the CRA already has on file for me?
- How did the requester get my email address?
- Am I confident I know who is asking for the information?
The CRA has also provided examples of fraudulent letters, emails and online refund forms on their web site so that you can see exactly what you are protecting yourself from. This site is updated as new frauds are discovered.
The extent of this problem will likely worsen when legislation is passed that will allow the CRA to issue electronic notices, such as notices of assessment (historically the CRA did not send emails to taxpayers, other than to those where the CRA had initiated an audit or review). So, it will be more important than ever to carefully read emails that appear to be from the CRA in the future. See our article titled “Electronic Communications from the CRA” in this edition of the Tax Factor, for more information on this.
If you have received a communication from the CRA and are unsure whether or not it is authentic, contact your BDO advisor.
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