Right now there is a new Canada Revenue Agency tax refund email scam taking place. The scammers are sending out emails to Canadian email addresses hoping you follow the link and give up your personal details so that they may steal them.
The email subject alone should give this away as a scam – Refund form revenue agency. You would think Canada Revenue would do a better job at spell checking before sending out tax rebate emails. And that’s just it – they don’t notify you by email that you have a return coming. They have your address and they always postal mail it directly to you or post it directly to your bank account if you set it up that way. Never will they email you for any reason regarding a tax refund notice.
If you get the following email it is a scam. Delete it right away and if you have already responded and gave up your personal details you need to contact your local police department and notify them and your bank of what you have done.
Unedited email as we got it:
Tax refund Canada Revenue Agency
Tax refund request submitted.
You will receive a confirmation to your email once your request was processed.
This automatic e-mail is to inform you that the following transaction made on Refund Amount: $386.00The refunding procedure usually takes 5-15 business days, depending on the processing banks as well.
To Get Started, Please Click Here http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/
LALIB – Gestao e Investimentos, Lda.
Rua Brigadeiro Oudinot
Edificio Oudinot, 3rd Floor – Room 317
P-9060-209 Funchal
Madeira, PortugalNote: For security reasons, we recommend that you close your browser after you have finished to complete the online form.
NOTICE:
This e-mail has been sent to you in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. Its content and any file transmitted along with it is confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named.
The url noted in the email goes to the scam site – 0fees.net. And if you didn’t notice the dead giveaway – the foreign address, we suggest you take an hour and read over this website!
taxrefundcanadarevenueagency .co.cc/esrvc-srvce/getStatus_en.htm#
Is this the scam address?
Well it is certainly not the correct one. Notice the domain extension – .co.cc – that’s a free service utilizing another country’s reserved country code domain name.
You can report them for their scam email at – http://www.co.cc/prosecution/prosecution.php
To protect yourself please note that the Canadian government will always use the domain extension – .gc.ca. It is specially reserved for them.
Canadian Income Tax Scam – received Apr 5, 2011
Be careful if you recieve something like this – note the script file pointing to lumyx.com.br
To: gerrymar@xxxxxx.ca
Subject: Tax Refund ID Number: 381716209
X-PHP-Script: http://www.lumyx.com.br/lojatmp/labanquepostal/bankpostalmlarmhal/labankpostal/labankpostal/postal/bank/index_fichiers/inbox.php for 209.23.156.178
From: Canada Revenue Agency
Reply-To:
Date: Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:45:07 -0300
X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report
X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname – server.dbservidores2.com
X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain – ns.sympatico.ca
X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID – [99 32003] / [47 12]
X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain – server.dbservidores2.com
X-Source:
X-Source-Args: /usr/local/apache/bin/httpd -k start -DSSL
X-Source-Dir: lumyx.com.br:/public_html/lojatmp/labanquepostal/bankpostalmlarmhal/labankpostal/labankpostal/postal/bank/index_fichiers
X-Opwv-CommTouchExtSvcRefID: str=0001.0A02020A.4D9B3908.0055,ss=1,re=0.000,fgs=0
X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 110405-0, 05/04/2011), Inbound message
X-Antivirus-Status: Clean
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Dear Tax Payer
Tax Refund for the year 2010
Recalculation of your tax refund
Local Office No 3819
Tax Credit Officer: Lisa Frank
Tax Refund ID Number: 381716209
Refund Amount: $ 386.00
After the last calculation of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $ 386.00.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 2-3 days in order to process it.
Click Here To Have your Tax Refund In your Bank Account In Next 2-3 days in order to process it and take your time to submit the details needed.
Note: A refund can be delayed a variety reason, for example submitting invalid records or applying after deadline. Our head office address can be found on our website at Canada Revenue Agency.
Sincerely,
Lisa Frank
Canada Revenue Agency Tax Credit Office
TAX REFUND ID: CA381716209-CRA-ARC
® Copyright 2011, Canada Revenue Agency. All rights Reserved
200 Town Centre Crt, Room 427
Toronto, ON M1P 4Y3
This email was sent to you
This is a version of the scam that I received today. The give away was the subject of the email, that I don’t own a business, and the webpage email address.
Possible tax evasion fraud!
Canada Revenue Agency [taxfraud@cra-arc.gc.ca]
Dear tax payer,
While checking your company’s tax reports , several discrepancies were found by comparing the real and the declared profit.
An investigation has been started to determine if this is a mistake or a tax evasion attempt.
A new tax form , revised , with additional fields has been attached to this message.
The revised tax form can also be downloaded from the CRA mirror : iblp-rd.org/cache/revised_tax_form.zip
Please complete the revised tax form , with accurate information and forward the completed form to : taxevasionfraud@cra-arc.gc.ca
Thank you
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Dear Tax Payer
Tax Refund for the year 2010
Recalculation of your tax refund
Local Office No 3718
Tax Credit Officer: Barbara Hébert
Tax Refund ID Number: 681716203
Refund Amount: CAD 410.00
After the last calculation of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $ 410.00.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 2-3 days in order to process it.
Click Here To Have your Tax Refund In your Bank Account In Next 2-3 days in order to process it and take your time to submit the details needed.
Note: A refund can be delayed a variety reason, for example submitting invalid records or applying after deadline. Our head office address can be found on our website at Canada Revenue Agency.
Sincerely,
Barbara Hébert
Canada Revenue Agency Tax Credit Office
TAX REFUND ID: CA681716203-CRA-ARC
® Copyright 2011, Canada Revenue Agency. All rights Reserved
200 Town Centre Crt, Room 427
Toronto, ON M1P 4Y3
This email was sent to you
As we can see from the comments that this scam is in full swing again this year shortly after tax season has ended.
I just got the exact same email from “Barbara Hebert” telling me I had a $410.00 refund on my 2011 taxes. Kinda amazing since 2011 ended 4 days ago. They’ve processed my taxes before I could even file them this upcoming April!
I just received a similar message and the amount is the same.