It is Tax Season again and with that comes the boatload of spam emails trying to trick people into visiting compromised sites that serve up malicious software; or sites that try to gather personal information from unsuspecting or unwary individuals.
We have recently received some fairly convincing spam (except for the spelling and grammar issues!) that appears to have come from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The links in the message all point to a different malicious website that has nothing to do with the CRA. If you get messages such as this one DO NOT click the links. If you receive a message from someone or somewhere that you were not suspecting, DO NOT open any attachments in it, DO NOT click any links in the email, and DO NOT download any images associated with it. Simply delete the message and then delete it from your deleted items bin.
The fraudulent communications are also coming in the form of aggressive and repetitive phone calls. In general, remember the following when it comes to CRA communications:
- The CRA will not leave any personal information on an answering machine.
- The CRA will not divulge taxpayer information to another person unless formal authorization is provided by the taxpayer.
- The CRA will not send emails containing any links.
- The CRA will not request personal information of any kind from a taxpayer by email or text message.
- The CRA will not send emails in English or French only: all communications are in both official languages.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
