Last Friday my sister and I received what we believe to be a bogus letter from the Canada Revenue Agency regarding my late father’s estate.
We believe it is a scam, because all there was was a covering letter with no accompanying paperwork explaining what the issue was or amounts involved. When I reverse searched the number provided (833-494-3064), it came back as “no information.” When I tried the reverse search with their 1-800 number from the internet, it came back immediately as a CRA number.
I went to the RCMP station to file a report but was told by the nice lady at reception that since we didn’t actually lose money there was little they could do. I guess attempting a crime is not actually a crime. She gave me a booklet explaining all the scams that are happening and told me I should go to Service Canada to report it. I went to Service Canada, and they asked me why I showed up there. I told them the RCMP sent me there. The lady shook her head and gave me a sheet of paper with the same information the RCMP had provided.
I tried calling the fraud number they gave me. The voice at the other end said ‘I’m sorry we are experiencing a high number of calls at the moment, please call back.’ Click. Didn’t even put me on hold. I decided to try the internet reporting system so I clicked on the link that said ‘Report an incident.’ Guess where the link took me? To the RCMP website. Now, in order to make a report, I had to join this and register for that so I could get a “GC key.”
Are you kidding me? Why couldn’t the RCMP just have taken my report at the front desk? I gave up after this because my blood pressure had reached the boiling point.
This is an absolute joke.
Mark Billesberger
Penticton
