Millions of Americans and Canadians across North America will be filing their personal taxes before their government’s deadlines (April 15th in the United States and April 30th in Canada). The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) highly advise their citizens to file before the deadline to avoid late penalties.

Sadly, many are falling for a scam that’s robbing them of their money…

Crooks are posing as IRS and CRA employees and are calling American and Canadian citizen to say that they owe money and they need to pay right now. Typically, the citizen is told to wire money to the “office” or purchase a pre-paid credit card to send money to them so the debt can be cleared.

It’s a scam; don’t fall for it…

Here are some articles detailing this fresh new tax scam.

• Phone scam almost costs Montreal man $1,248 (CBC)
• Tax scams stealing your identity (CTV) – Canadian specific info
• Don’t get caught in a tax scam (CNN) – American specific info
• Warning: Scam artists want to steal your tax rebate (CNN)

Your country’s tax office will never email you…

The IRS and CRA will always mail you if they need to get your attention. If you get a phone call from someone saying they’re from the tax office, hang up, find your tax assessment from the year before, locate the phone number for your local IRS or CRA office on the forms, then call them. Never take action just because someone called you.

What to do if you’ve been contacted or swindled by a scammer…

• If you’re Canadian, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
• If you’re American, report the scammer to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).