Scams

  Social Media here in Canada has been flooded with warnings of scams involving credit cards, bank accounts and Revenue Canada (our tax agency). These scams are so good in some cases that even bank officials are hard pressed to find the errors in the emails sent out. And somehow these con artists can make your call display show Government of Canada or the bank. Very sophisticated.

  In the past week I've had two bizarre encounters. The first was a phone call from the fraud department of our credit card company.  Very politely the man told me John's card had been compromised and a new card would.....well I didn't let him go any further. I calmly said I'm not falling for your scam and after calling him a few choice names I hung up the phone. 

  Then I started thinking. What if it was true? He hadn't asked for any information. And John was out of town. What if it was for real and he couldn't use his card for travel? Did he have his work card with him? Thinking I should be proactive, I called the company myself. After explaining the situation, I was transferred to the fraud department where a very nice man told me that yes in fact John's card had been compromised and they would be needing to send him a new card!

  Figures. After passing on my apologies to the man who initially called, I arranged for a new card to be sent out.  The bank said it never calls...except the fraud department. Lesson learned but still I won't ever give out any information to anyone on the phone. Which leads me to today......

  Another phone call. This one from Revenue Canada. Again my radar is up. I tell the very polite woman that I'm not answering any of her questions and just as I'm about to hang up she quickly says this happens all the time and I should call the 888 number from their website and she will leave a note on my account to show she is legitimate.

  Again I'm not falling for it. But then.....I start to think. What if this is for real? Deja vu my friends. So I call the toll free number and explain my situation. Again I speak to a very nice person who agrees better safe than sorry. After an unending stream of questions he informs me that yes I had been contacted by a department within CRA. 

  Figures. Not once but twice. I'm the only person the "people who never call you" call! So while we all need to be careful about scams we also must be aware that sometimes we need to call the institution back...just to be sure.

  On a good note Revenue Canada wasn't calling to say I owe them money! 

  Ang