Police issue fraud alert with tax season

The City of Kawartha Lakes Police Service has been receiving daily reports from concerned members of the community regarding attempted frauds.

As tax season rapidly approaches perpetrators of the “CRA Tax Scam” continue to ramp up their aggressive tactics in our area.  Kawartha Lakes Police are seeing an increase in the number of people contacting them with regards to the scam and trying to reassure themselves that they do not owe the Canada Revenue Agency money.

In recent weeks, the City of Kawartha Lakes have received reports of people being contacted by  telephone, email  and text messaging.

The scammers are using high pressure tactics to have the potential victims forward them money and/or personal financial information.

Usually the call or message starts out very civil but when the victim begins to question the motive of the caller, the callers will up the ante and resort to becoming verbally abusive; usually threatening arrest by the police for non-compliance with their demands.

Police remind members of the community to ignore these inquiries until they can verify the identity of the caller.

There are occasions when The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will contact people about their taxes.

That is why it is so important to verify who you are speaking with before you provide any information. Do not provide any credit card information, social insurance card information until this verification has taken place.  More information about how to protect yourself has been posted on our website.