This is one of the sad truths of our society and a quite serious one too that CRA phone scams have turned away genuine CRA agents from connecting with their regular customers for the purpose of tax inquiries. Truth be told, I’ve been hounded by these low-lifers too but I have resisted the temptation to succumb to their lame tactics, although it did affect me mentally a lot. A few years ago, there were actual people posing as CRA agents and threatening you with dire legal consequences over the phone if you didn’t pay up, but now the game has shifted to using robotic voices which sound more artificial and funnier than the humans. The tactic to avoid being scammed could backfire as it happened in my case.
One sultry day, I received a voicemail from an individual named April claiming to be representing the “CRA” and asked for tax details. Besides this, she also left her agent ID, her contact details. I obviously ignored it assuming it might be a scam. Then some days later my phone rang and it was the same lady asking for my tax details, I rejected the idea and suggested I’d prefer to call the toll free number and provide any info they needed. Under the circumstances I thought that was the smartest thing to do. She acknowledged and gave her agent ID number along with her contact number which I reluctantly jotted down, I thought it was her futile bid to convince me about her ‘genuine’ intentions. She then asked me to call the toll-free and provide the details as soon as possible. When I called the CRA toll free number it was confirmed that the lady indeed was a genuine CRA agent. Heck! I then called April and couldn’t stop apologizing for my misdeeds but she took it in her stride and laughed about it. She said, a fake CRA caller would sound threatening, I tended to disagree on her viewpoint. But why did I not pick up any clues? Here’s what probably happened.
In the past, just like the real CRA agents the scammers had also provided an “agent ID” with a number to call, it doesn’t leave any clue in distinguishing between the two. But eventually, I believe, this whole phone scam thing has carried far too long and destroyed the credibility of the CRA and other entities who are at the frontline of public services. This damage is probably permanent, but here’s the question that we need answered – how could we make changes and bring that confidence back in the federal structures of our society?
Source: Canadians tuning out real Canada Revenue Agency agents because of phone scammers
