I’m starting a new series to be posted on Saturdays, explaining any new Spams/Scams I’ve come across! If you have any information regarding Spams/Scams and would like to have it appear here, please send me that information and advise what social profile you’d like linked, your name, or if you wish to stay anonymous!
I’ve recently been receiving a large number of phone calls claiming to be the CRA, Border Patrol, and the Police, all basically stating that I’m in trouble, I’ve transported illegal goods or something, I’m going to get arrested and to press a number to speak with an agent! You’re then transferred to a scammer who states you have a file and to access it you’ll need personal information.
I’d like to note that these numbers are from all over North America, I’ve not only received these calls from 1-800 numbers, but also from area-codes States-side as well as provinces such as Alberta & Manitoba. And if you call them back, either they aren’t in service, or in some cases confused people! (Please DO NOT call these numbers back with your phone, if you are curious, use POP-TOX instead.)
Just last week, a friend of mine had one of these phone calls, and I happened to be standing there, and he says ‘Watch this’ proceeds to hit the number and toy with the agent. A heavily accented person from somewhere in India answers. He gives them a wrong name, a wrong postal code, then you can hear the agent typing in the postal code over and over. The agent asks for it again, and when the agent continues to be unable to find it, he responds with ‘I think you’re playing with me sir’, to which my friend denies, then the agent types it in one more time, gets slightly upset and hangs up the phone. My friend is still walking a free man – and here’s a quote from an article on the Canadian Government’s website below in regards to such scams! There are also a few more scams listed within this article, so please do read the entire thing if you wish to be aware! (I do not encourage pressing the number they request to speak with an agent, as there may be unknown repercussions!)
There are many sophisticated frauds and scams in Canada, and new ones pop up daily. Some frauds and scams attempt to imitate federal government services to gain access to personal and financial information.
Email, text and telephone scams
Individuals posing as CBSA officials are using email, text messages and telephone calls to fraudulently access your personal information and request payments.
Telephone calls may display numbers and employee names that appear to be from the CBSA. Emails may contain CBSA logos, email addresses or employee names and titles to mislead the readers.
Be on alert if someone is claiming to be a CBSA employee and contacts you to:
request personal information (such as a Social Insurance Number, credit card number, bank account number or passport number)
demand money
The CBSA never initiates a request for your SIN and credit card number by telephone, text or email. If you receive a telephone call or an email asking for this information, or requesting money, it is a scam.
In some cases, these scams use false CBSA identifiers such as:
telephone display numbers and CBSA employee names
CBSA logos on websites or in emails
CBSA email addresses, employee names and titles
https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/security-securite/pyaf-pvcf-eng.html
Stay Safe Friends!
-SarahTonin
Things & Stuff 