Canadians are receiving e-mails -- and even letters -- which claim to come from the Canada Revenue Agency demanding banking information and even a copy of your passport
This letter is not from the government and you should not provide your information to the sender. Like many of these scams if you look closely you can see the letter contains shoddy graphics and poor English. For example, it says "kindly attached the copy of your international passport."
The best scams are the ones that seem credible and we while we do provide detailed income information to the government, they don't ask for bank account information. Canada Revenue Agency says if you e-File your tax return, they are not going to e-mail you to get personal financial information. In fact, they don't e-mail at all. They'll send you a letter by regular mail with specific requests relating to your return.
If you get one of these letters, or worse if you've provided that information, you're at risk for identity theft and your bank accounts could be compromised. You should contact Phone Busters which is run by the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police and the Competition Bureau of Canada.
Oh, and tell your bank so it can watch your account.
