Be Cautious of Scams

Unfortunately, it seems there are more and more predators attempting to take advantage of honest people.  Just last week, a colleague at my office received an email that appeared to come from me requesting they do me a big favour and purchase gift cards as a thank you for our staff.  Luckily my colleague was alert and recognized the email address was suspicious.

Some common scams I have heard of recently are:

• Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) scams – these calls can be convincing as most individuals have an inherent fear of receiving a call from CRA.  The “representative” claims you owe money to CRA and must arrange payment, or you will be arrested.  The warning sign of this scam is the caller wanting to be paid in iTunes cards or Bitcoin.
• Lottery scams – caller claims you have won a lottery but requests you provide banking information for the deposit.  You should never provide banking information over the telephone to an unknown party.
• Prize winner call – this scam targets seniors and the caller claims to represent “Readers Digest” or “Publishers Clearing House” and requests payment of a small fee to cover taxes, legal fees and delivery costs.  The warning sign here is that lottery and prize winnings are not taxable in Canada.
• Grandchild scam – the caller claims to be a grandchild who is in trouble and needs the grandparent to send them money.  Most grandparents would panic and want to immediately help, but calmly hang up and call your grandchild back.
• CERB claims – somehow, claims were made for CERB payments by third parties who directly received the funds.  If you received a T4A for CERB funds that you did not receive, you should contact Canada Revenue Agency immediately.

I also recommend against answering those fun Facebook posts about your first pet, street name, etc.  Predators could use that information to try and guess your passwords.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reported 46,077 reports of fraud as of July 2021 and $130 million lost to fraud.  Their website provides more information on recent scams and frauds https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/index-eng.htm.

The takeaway is to always be alert, be skeptical and most of the time just hang up without providing any details or pressing any buttons on your telephone.

By Kathy Lenart – Insolvency Partner, Licensed Insolvency Trustee
CPA, CA, CIRP
Member and Secretary of the Ontario Association of Insolvency
and Restructuring Professionals (OAIRP)
Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals (CAIRP)