It appears even police officers aren't immune from being targeted by scammers.
Police in Port Moody, B.C. said an officer was contacted in the telephone tax scam that has been operating across Canada for months.
Const. Jason Maschke decided to call the scammers back, and recorded the call on video. Police sent the video to CTV News to air as a warning to the public.
"Please don't fall victim to scams like this. CRA won't sue you!" the force wrote on Twitter.
In the video, Maschke can be seen making faces to the camera as he pretends to be falling for the Canada Revenue Agency scam.
The scammer identifies himself as Nick Smith, an officer with the CRA.
"Officer Nest Smith," Maschke repeats.
"No, no, Nick. Nick Smith," the scammer says.
"Mick, as in Michael?" Maschke asks the increasingly exasperated scammer.
"No. N as in 'nice person,'" the scammer says.
The scammer even gave Maschke a fake ID number, then asks for his home address. He told Maschke he was in some type of trouble, and threatened there could be legal action.
Authorities say the latest CRA scam involves asking personal questions or demanding payment with a credit card. In some cases, police say, the caller will get aggressive or suggest the scam victim will be arrested if they don't pay up immediately.
Police advise the public to leave the calls unanswered or hang up when they realize what it is. They should never give out personal information including credit card numbers to random callers.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Angela Jung
