RCMP Warn that Aggressive Phone Calls from Revenue Canada are a Scam

Williams Lake RCMP are warning residents to protect themselves from aggressive phone calls from scam artists claiming to represent Revenue Canada.

RCMP say they have been been receiving an increasing number of complaints that someone identifying themselves as a police officer from Revenue Canada has called them, and is very confrontational and aggressive.

The common theme is that the caller demands a sum of money in payment in exchange for going to jail, or they state there is a warrant for the persons arrest and that if they pay the money, the warrant will be dropped.

RCMP remind that Canada Revenue will never demand money over the phone and threaten jail if they are not paid.

They say a caller that represents any company that gets too aggressive or demanding every likely does not work for that company.

Police recommend these tips to protect yourself from any scam:

• Be suspicious of anyone who calls you that you don’t know
• Do not give any personal, or banking information over the phone unless you’ve called them and know who you are talking to
• If someone calls you trying to sell something, take their information, check the company out, and call the company back if you want their product
• In every instance, someone saying you will receive a pile of money in exchange for sending them money, is a scam
• If someone calls you and uses language you don’t like, demands, money from you, or threatens you, hang up your phone

For repeated harassing phone calls you can use “call trace” to provide legal evidence of harassing calls to your phone number. This information is readily available online if you enter the search phase, “trace calls using Telus” or “Trace calls using Bell”-whatever your telephone provider is.