Tax scam scares residents

The message on her answering machine said Lisa Kluyts was under investigation for tax fraud, and would be arrested. The man’s voice warned her that she had not filed the income tax information for her two jobs correctly, and needed to call him back immediately, he said.

But Kluyts, who moved to Canada three yeas ago, does not work two jobs. She also filed her taxes through an accounting firm earlier this year. The call scared her, though, so she called back.

“I thought it was very fishy,” she said. “We are from South Africa, and I thought it was really strange. But being in a new country your guard is down.”

It turned out a scam artist was at work. When Kluyts called back, the man told her “crime investigation” was looking into her address because the Canada Revenue Agency had filed a complaint and she owed them money.

He was not very forthcoming when she asked for more information, she said. Instead, he told her to schedule a meeting with a lawyer who “would help her.” There were also long pauses in the conversation, where she thinks he was asking for advice on how to answer her questions.

Following the call, Kluyts said she contacted her accountant who said it was a fraud and they were trying to get money from her. She now worries that other unsuspecting people may fall for the scam.

“I am really rattled, I wouldn’t expect this,” she said.

Wendy Graham-Bennett heard many similar stories in recent months. The co-owner of Graham & Associates, a tax and accounting firm in St. Albert, said her clients have been getting emails, phone calls and even text messages from scammers who pretend to work for the Canada Revenue Agency. They are bullies, she said.

They tell people that they owe money and have to pay them right away, or else they go to jail, she said. Others say they want to return money to a person and ask for their bank information and then “they take all your money.”

“Revenue Canada will never text message anyone, and they will never email anybody, and if they call they have to give a specific ID number,” she said. “We tell everyone that we do taxes for, if they get anything from Revenue Canada throughout the year … to let us know and then we verify it.”

Graham-Bennett said she called some of the scammers herself, and they could not give her an ID number or specific information about a person’s tax return. Some of them may make up an ID number, of course. But anyone who is contacted by the agency can also call them back on their general phone line to verify information before making any payment, she said.

She added that many people are scared of the agency and want to pay possible outstanding sums right away, fearing repercussions. The scammers know that, she said. They also target new Canadians, who may not understand the tax laws as well. In one case, a client was told he would be deported if he did not pay, she said.

But the agency doesn’t throw people in jail or out of the country because they made a mistake on their tax return or owe money, she said. If they suspected someone of fraud, they would send several letters first, then investigate and go through the courts.

”It needs to go a long way. It needs to go through the courts and they need to prove that you’ve been fraudulent,” she said. “I’ve been here for 13 years now and I’ve never seen that.”