Niagara Regional Police Service is warning citizens and businesses about new and often sophisticated scams that prey on vulnerable taxpayers, utility users and consumers.
Financial crimes and fraud are criminal activities that victimize individuals from all walks of life. During the past year, police across Ontario have become increasingly aware of very sophisticated, well-organized financial criminal activities that prey on peoples lack of understanding about their rights when it comes to their financial matters. If you feel uneasy about someone calling you or showing up at your door about your taxes or your utility bills, if you notice suspicious banking or on-line activities related to your financial assets, dont be fooled. Call for help.
Individuals and businesses can call the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to confirm the authenticity of a CRA telephone number or report incidents of suspected fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.
The Niagara Regional Police Service is partnering with the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) to promote the OACPs 2016 Crime Prevention Campaign. The campaign theme is Know Who Youre Dealing With. A new crime prevention booklet detailing the types of crimes Ontarians should be aware of and what they can do to protect themselves, their families, and their businesses, is now available at:
http://www.oacp.on.ca/news-events/resource-documents/public-resource-docs.
Niagara Regional Police Chief Jeff McGuire will be speaking today to members of the OACP and the Canada Revenue Agency to raise public awareness to the threat that financial crimes pose to our economy as a whole. Chief McGuire and the OACP are focusing this year’s crime prevention efforts on this increasingly sophisticated criminal activity that victimizes all members of our community.
Its estimated that all types of financial crimes and fraud cost Canadians more than $10 billion each year. When it comes to mass marketing fraud, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reported a total of 51,385 complaints between January and November of 2015, involving 13,717 victims. The total dollar value loss suffered by these victims was $61.3 million dollars. In 2014, the total dollar lost to these types of crimes was $75 million.
Know Who You are Dealing With!!
Tax Scams
The CRA has noted an increase in telephone scams where the caller claims to be from the CRA but is not. Beware these calls are fraudulent and could result in identity and financial theft
The CRA takes these tax fraud schemes very seriously and actively warns Canadians about scams undertaken using the CRAs name, especially during the tax filing season, when such scams peak
If you want to confirm the authenticity of a CRA telephone number, call the CRA at 1-800-959-8281
For more information about the security of taxpayer information and other examples of fraudulent communications, go to www.cra.gc.ca/security
Electrical Utilities Scams
Ontarios electricity customers are targets for phone scammers. These scammers tell people that they are from the local utility and use sophisticated software to show the utilitys name on a caller display. Scammers threaten to disconnect customers if they dont immediately pay by pre-paid credit card or wire transfer.
Scammers target people when they are most vulnerable, especially during holidays or peak business times. Since July 2014, more than 500 people were targeted in Toronto alone. A total of thirteen per cent of those incidents involved payments totaling $58,000. Local utilities NEVER ask customers to pay by pre-paid credit card or wire transfers over the phone. Local utilities NEVER threaten to disconnect you right away.
When in doubt, call your utility company and ask about their policy. If someone calls and threatens to disconnect you if you dont make a payment right away by pre-paid credit card or wire transfer, SAY NO and HANG UP! NEVER give out your personal or financial information.
Report the incident to your utility company and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501. This agency collects information on fraud and works closely with police to solve these crimes.
Identity Theft
The theft of identity information such as tombstone data, employment information, banking particulars, and payment card data have become a highly saleable commodity that is easily trafficked via traditional means and through hundreds of websites on the dark web.
Identity information is obtained via Server/Computer Hacks, ATM/POS tampering, Phishing, Social Engineering, Complicit Government/Corporate Employees, Theft of Mail, and a host of other means. Once obtained, Pirate websites available on the dark web provide nearly unlimited access to such data to all takers. Payment for the identity information is easily made via non-traditional, unregulated, online payment systems that offer participants the ability to traffic or purchase identity information for eventual exploitation. Typical offences include: Account take-overs, truename fraudulent credit applications, TM/POS tampering, and trafficking in identity information.
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