City woman loses $20,000 in income tax scam

A woman recently lost nearly $20,000 in what is known as the Canada Revenue Agency scam, still making the rounds in Calgary.

City police say a woman received a call at around 9 a.m. on Wednesday from a man posing as a representative with the government agency.

He asked for the woman by name and told her he was calling because she owed money for income taxes to the CRA, that there was a warrant out for her arrest and liens had been placed against her home, car and investments.

The man then had the woman go to a nearby grocery store and instructed her to buy Apple iTunes gift cards as a way of paying off the so-called debt she owed. He stayed on the line as she made the purchases and provided him with the activation codes.

Police say the man then told the woman to go to another grocery store to buy more iTunes gift cards and give him the activation codes, and the woman complied.

He told her he was at the courthouse trying to get the arrest warrant removed, then informed her the warrant had been reissued and that further payment was needed to have it removed.

The woman then went to her bank and withdrew funds before contacting a family member for more money.

The family member then contacted police, who were able to stop the fraud from continuing.

The woman lost nearly $20,000 before police were able to intervene.

In a recent interview, Staff Sgt. Kristie Verheul of the Calgary Police Service’s economic crimes unit said this CRA scam — one of the top three currently circulating in the city — has been hitting city households for nearly two years, and scam artists keep changing their tactics.

They are also getting more and more aggressive.

“There are threats of violence, threats of sexual assault,” she said.

Since February 2015, police have identified about 131 victims who have lost a total of about $600,000.

Police have also received nearly 6,000 reports but suspect there are more incidents that have gone unreported.