An older West Saint John woman was left shaken after threatening phone conversation with a scammer and thinks there needs to be more public awareness about these types of calls.
An emotional Star Conley spoke with us about returning a missed phone call and the person who answered told her that she had filled out her taxes incorrectly and is ripping off the government. Conway says there was a lot of foul language and the person on the other line threatened to come to her home.
“It’s not something that somebody in my condition, who can’t run because I’m disabled, needs anyone to call their home and start threatening them that they’re going to come to their home and do things to them.”
“That’s how it makes you feel like you just want to sit down and cry because they’ve just scared the life out of you,” says Conley. “Nobody needs to have this kind of worry or threat thrown into their life.”
Conley says she contacted Saint John police and reported this phone call to them immediately. She says she was told that they were aware of it and not to worry.
The Canada Revenue Agency will never use aggressive language or tone, ask for prepaid credit cards, threaten arrest or send police, ask for personal information by email or text message, share your tax information with another person or organization – unless you have agreed it can be shared, or leave personal information on an answering machine.
The CRA says if you’ve given out your information during one of these phone scams you should call the CRA and police. Though you’re asked to call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 even if you don’t give out your information in order to report it. You can read about how to protect yourself from fraud on the CRA’s website.
In April of this year the New Brunswick RCMP issued a warning that the CRA phone scam had returned.
