The phone rings. A serious voice says it’s the Canada Revenue Agency. You owe back taxes, and if you don’t pay today, the police are on their way.
It’s one of the oldest phone scams in Canada, and it still works because it uses real fear: nobody wants trouble with the tax office. The good news is that a fake CRA call is easy to spot once you know what the real CRA does and doesn’t do.
What the real CRA will never do
According to the CRA’s own fraud guidance, the CRA will never:
- Demand immediate payment by e-transfer, cryptocurrency, prepaid credit cards or gift cards
- Threaten you with arrest, deportation or sending the police
- Leave a voicemail with your personal or financial information
- Email or text you a link to your refund
If a caller does any of these things, you can hang up. You don’t need to be polite, and you don’t need to “just check” anything they ask.
What a real CRA call sounds like
The CRA does sometimes call people. A real CRA employee will give you their name and a callback number. They won’t rush you, and they won’t mind if you hang up to check.
Red flags checklist
- The caller is angry, urgent or threatening
- You’re told not to hang up, or not to tell anyone
- They ask for your SIN, banking details or passwords
- They want payment in gift cards, Bitcoin or by e-transfer
- The call is a recorded message telling you to “press 1”
- The caller ID shows a government name or number (this can be faked, see below)
Caller ID can lie
Scammers can make any name or number appear on your screen. This is called spoofing. A call that shows “Canada Revenue Agency” or a real government number can still be fake. Never trust caller ID alone.
How to check a CRA call in two minutes
- Hang up. Don’t call back the number that called you.
- Sign in to your CRA account (My Account). Real balances and messages from the CRA appear there.
- Call the CRA yourself using the official number: individuals 1-800-959-8281 (provinces) or 1-866-426-1527 (territories); businesses 1-800-959-5525 (provinces) or 1-866-841-1876 (territories).
- If there’s no debt in your account and the CRA has no record of the call, it was a scam.
Already paid or shared information?
Act quickly: call your bank, then report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 and your local police. See our step-by-step guide: What to do if you gave information to a scammer.
Got a call like this?
Look up the number on CallCheck and report it. One tap warns the next person who gets the same call.
Sources: Canada Revenue Agency — Fraud Prevention Month: How to recognize fraud, scams and tax schemes; CRA scam alerts.