CRA Warns Taxpayers of Phishing Mails

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is bewaring Canadian taxpayers to remain cautious of tax-themed phishing email that are outgoing in internet and targeting them.

The e-mail resembles an official mail and mostly connects to a website looking the same as the legal business website, which might be a bank or a government department.

Instances of these fake e-mails from CRA official's website show how that scammers mostly entice the targeted victims of being eligible for a refund, and which can be initiated by just clicking on a link and validating personal information.

According to Philippe Brideau, Senior Media Relations Advisor at the CRA, even if these fake e-mails are posing immediate necessity of taking a quick action, the whole matter seems to take considerable time, as reported online in Canada.com on March 12, 2012.

Brideau also acclaimed that any authentic organization like the CRA does not send any kind of refunds or payment-related benefit information through an e-mail. Neither do they make any such query on personal details electronically.

While recommending users, CRA officials suggested taxpayers to ask their own selves a few questions while in doubt. These self-evaluating questions comprises of: Do I have any reasons to receive money from the CRA? If I am confident about the authenticity of the person sending me these questions, If these are the same set of questions that are ought to be in the file of CRA? Through which sources did the sender get this e-mail address? If there are reasons enough to doubt the truth behind this instance?

In fact, if a taxpayer gets such an email, the official at CRA suggested them to close them right away and delete them after forwarding it to CRA.

Moreover, for more information to defend their own selves against phishing scams related to CRA and fraudsters go to official website of CRA that is www.cra.gc.ca/fraudprevention or call it on its hotline number, official at CRA comment.

And, if any person has responded to a fraudulent emails and has become a victim of fraud, CRA tells them to contact the royal Canadian mounted police's Canadian anti-fraud centre by email at info@antifraudcentre.ca or call at their hotline number.

Moreover this is not the first time CRA has been aimed by fraudsters. In July 2009, a fraud email, which claims to be from CRA, informed the recipients that he is suitable for a tax refund of $386.

Related article: Car SatNav Gives Another Opportunity to Hackers

» SPAMfighter News - 3/23/2012