Tax compliance is a matter that many people try to adhere to in Canada. That means that when one receives a call asking them to immediately clear apparent tax deficits or face arrests, they merely comply. It is often impossible to tell apart the scammers from real CRA employees as they use masking technologies that make it seem like you really are getting a call from the CRA. This problem is so rampant that millions of dollars have been transferred to these scammers leaving many unaware Canadians cheated.
Over the years, many individuals have come forward to make complaints on their losses. This has however posed a rather unique problem to the Canadian police force. This owes to the fact that these scammers are international and not being Canadian citizen’s makes the law unable to cater to these woes. These scammers have gotten away with it for so long that at this point there are several call centers established in many towns in India.
These scammers have been getting away with this matter for many years even with a government that is aware of what is happening. With corruption a big problem in the Indian police force, there is no doubt that some of these scammers have merely paid off the police officials to keep away and let them proceed. The result is a scam that forces many unsuspecting Canadian citizens to lose their hard earned money thinking they had tax deficits.
How they scam Canadian citizens
This is a very large operation in India. As there are so many scam call centers in India, you find that they have narrowed down their targets to either the elderly or immigrants who are yet to get acquainted with how tax collection works in Canada. This unfortunate matter is conducted in a manner that has kept the operation alive for several years and expanded the operations.
The scammers generally call using a robot. Most of them mask their numbers that they appear as a CRA number. After the person on the other end picks up the call, they identify themselves CRA employees. These then progress and they firmly inform you that you owe a certain amount of money. They then begin pushing and prodding asking that you send the money.
They don’t always ask for money, sometimes they ask for apple gift cards as well as an incentive. People get threatened that they will face jail time or lose property by auction to cover their costs. They will target anyone that they think might not be aware that it may be a scam. One businessman admitted to having been scammed over a hundred thousand dollars from his business.
How they collect and hide the money
The scammers hide the money in different ways. Most of them are known to use financial cartels from overseas who are usually given around 40% of the cuts. They also tend to use different cartels to keep their operations as untraceable as possible. The operation is an extensive network that originates in the streets of Mumbai and other Indian towns. The popularity that the call centers get by the locals has made many more young people venture into scamming as a primary source of income.
The biggest motivators and continuers of this are young people in their twenties usually. They are people hoping to make a lot of quick money for they quickly try to make pacts with local cops who are generally happy to receive a bribe to ignore the illegal activity. Since the call centers are the only place to trace where this scam originates, it is difficult for a Canadian citizen to know who scammed them or for these scammers to be linked to specific cases.
Efforts to stop the phone scammers
In the past, there has been little to no effort to prevent this kind of scam. Canadian citizens have learned to ignore or easily recognize a fraud. The people who are most likely to be victims of this are people who are not well versed with how the CRA works as they actually communicate by use of mail. This makes elderly people who may be unaware of changes to be victims as well as newcomers.
There has however been a recent progression in solving this. The local Indian police in cohorts with the RFPD have begun to search for these call centers. They have been identified and raided on national TV to show these people that the time to end these operations has come. This raid has led to many operations being revealed and there is hope for this massive operation to be brought down once and for all. Many Canadians have fallen victim to these scammers and more will continue if the word is not given to them.