New Brunswick Telephone Scam – 20 Complaints in Last 24 Hours

The RCMP in New Brunswick is warning the public about a telephone scam after receiving more than 20 complaints throughout the province over the past 24 hours.

According to police, fraudsters call victims claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and demand money by claiming they owe the government overdue taxes. The callers are aggressive and often claim they will come to the victim's house and arrest them if the money is not paid. The callers speak with a foreign accent and insist the money be paid immediately either by credit card or via Western Union.

We’ve received more than 20 complaints in the past day, and we want people to be aware so they can protect their personal and financial information," says Cst. Jullie Rogers-Marsh of the New Brunswick RCMP. "Some of the fraudsters are trying to seem legitimate by using a program that shows the CRA phone number on the victim's call display. We want people to know that this is a telephone scam and the callers aren’t really with CRA."

If anyone receives a call of this nature they are asked to report it to their local police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

For more information on this telephone scam, please see the news release issued by CRA in June 2015.