SCAM ALERT: Halton Residents Warned of Text Message Scam
Published August 17, 2017 at 12:02 am
If you have a cell phone, you’ve likely received spam text messages before.
If you have a cell phone, you’ve likely received spam text messages before. While spam can be annoying, Halton should be aware of a new scam going around that’s targeting residents via text.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has put out a warning for a scam targeting cell phone users through text messages.
The CRA took to Twitter recently to say that “Fraudulent text messages claiming to be from the CRA are circulating!”
Residents should always be aware of fraudulent emails, phone calls, and texts claiming from the CRA, but it’s text messages that are the current culprit.
These types of fraud often request personal information such as a social insurance number, credit card number, bank account number, or passport number, so be sure not to give away such details via email, call, or text.
Videos
The fraudulent communications might try scare tactics to urge you to pay a fake debt, or insist that your personal information is needed for a refund or a benefit payment.
According to the CRA, here are a list of things they will never do and that you should be aware of to detect fraud:
- ask for personal information of any kind by email or text message (unless you call them for specific information, in which case they’ll email you while they’re on the phone with you)
- request payments by prepaid credit cards
- give taxpayer information to another person, unless formal authorization is provided by the taxpayer
- leave personal information on an answering machine
- send email with a link and ask you to divulge personal or financial information
If you receive a text claiming to be from the CRA, it’ll be best to just ignore it.
For more info, click here.
insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising