Vancouver police are warning the public after a woman lost several thousand dollars in a Canada Revenue Agency scam.
It’s a scam that’s been running for several years — a person receives a call from someone posing as a Canada Revenue Agency representative. They say money is owed for income taxes and threaten the victim with legal action. In this case, the fraudsters added a new level to the scam — posing as police officers and meeting the victim in person.
At around 4 p.m. Wednesday, a 58-year-old woman received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency. The caller told her that there was a warrant out for her arrest because she owed the government money for her tax return.
According to a Vancouver police press release, the woman was then connected to another person claiming to be an RCMP officer, who was able to convince the woman to provide personal information including her location at the time.
Two men showed up in what appeared to be RCMP uniforms, handcuffed the woman and put her in the back of an older-model sedan. She was persuaded to withdraw $6,000 from a bank near Cambie Street and West King Edward Avenue. The suspects then drove her to a bitcoin machine in a coffe shop in Surrey near the Gateway SkyTrain station to deposit the funds.
Once the transaction was complete, the suspects left the area without the victim.
“This incident has taken the CRA scam to a new level,” media relations officer Const. Jason Doucette said in a press release. “Taking physical control of someone like this can be considered kidnapping.
“We are reminding the public to hang-up on anyone claiming to be from the CRA. If you want to double check, call the agency at the publicly available number.”
The first suspect is described as a white male in his 30s, 5’11” tall with an average build, light brown hair and a full, trimmed beard. The second man is described as white, 25 to 27 years old with short brown hair and clean shaven.
Both suspects were wearing what looked like short-sleeved, RCMP shirts and blue pants with yellow stripes down the side. Both were wearing police duty belts, including what appeared to be firearms. They were driving a black, older model, four-door vehicle with worn out seats.
“The CRA will not threaten customers with arrest, send the police to collect funds, or accept Bitcoin and gift cards as payment,” Doucette said.
Anyone with information about those involved in this incident is asked to contact investigators at 604-717-2541 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
jkerr@vancourier.com
