How I was Scammed... Almost
On the morning of June 9th, 2017, I was neck-deep
in work, when I got a call on my phone. The call was a recording. It was a very
official sounding gentleman who announced his name as Officer Craig Williams.
He informed me that there was a warrant out for my arrest! I was given a
toll-free number to call back on. I was horrified – as can be imagined – having
never had a single police case against me in all my life!
Red Flag #1: The
call came through on my cell phone which has been issued to me by the company I
work for. The phones are handed out with numbers, but it is the company that is
billed for them. In other words, this phone number is not registered to me.
Ref Flag #2: The
RCMP will never call you to inform you that there is an arrest warrant out for
you. They’ll show up at your doorstep – if need be.
At this point, I was told to press 1 to continue. I pressed
1. A woman came on the line. She told me her name was Kimberley Sharron – who spoke
(I am sorry to say – In an Indian/Sri Lankan accent). She asked me my name. I
was surprised and said, that since she had called me, she needed to know who
she was calling. Once I gave my name, she asked for my address, DOB and SIN.
Red Flag #3: If
you get a call from an unknown number/person – do not give your name when they ask for it. If they are calling you –
they should know whom they want to speak with – or at the least offer some form
of identification. Do not offer your identification in any way.
She then told me that I was the person she was looking for.
I was surprised. The phone had been in my possession for only the past 6
months. How could they even link it to me? ‘The CRA has all your data, ma’am,’
she assured me, with a laugh. So at this point, she explains to me that the
crime is tax-evasion, that I would be fined $96,000.00 and perhaps even jail
time. I was in shock and did the only thing I could. I asked how I could
mitigate this. “Kimberley” slowed down and very kindly asked me to collect my
things and leave the office. She would “guide” me through the steps.
- - Get government certified cards
- - Register the cards with her
- - She would give me a confirmation number and a cancellation number.
- - I would then have to go to the CRA building
- - Give them the cards
- - After which I would be “forgiven” my debt. After all, I was not deliberately defrauding the govt. was I?
- - But Most of all – do not speak with anybody about this!
Red Flag #4: Her
constant insistence on keeping silence as to the matter, not speaking with
anyone, as well as not giving me time to think was terrifying. She kept telling
me how little time I had in hand (kept me in a state of apprehension/fear). Normally
I would call my brother-in-law and consult him – which I failed to do.
The amount for which I was in “Transgression” was $3,988.00 –
a very feasible amount, considering … but this much of a penalty? Sounded
weird.
I gathered up my stuff and asked her what I should do. Should
I go to the bank and get a draft? She assured me that the govt. wished to get
its money through these “govt. certified cards”. She directed me to the nearest
gas station.
Red Flag #5: Why
would the govt. prefer gift cards over a bank draft – which is cash-in-hand, so
to speak? When the govt. asks for reimbursement, a bank draft is almost always
the preferred mode.
During my walk to the gas station – about two blocks away,
little alarm bells were starting to go off. However, I could not entirely
discount what was happening. At the gas station, she asked me to get STEAM
cards. They come in a variety of denominations. She asked me to get 15 of $50s
or 12 of the $100s. As I asked for the cards in the gas station, a gentleman
next to me asked me if I was into gaming. I asked him why? He informed me what
those cards were used for (later corroborated by my nephews). These are cards used
for buying time for online games!
Red Flag #6: A
gaming card to cancel a tax-debt? This is the twilight zone. At this time, I am
two-thirds of the way convinced that this is a phishing scam and I am being
made a fool of!
Sadly, the gas station did not have the cards. She urged me
to go to the Walmart® in the area. On Gerrard Street. I took a cab to the mall,
and found the Walmart®. There I pulled out my personal cell-phone and quickly
typed up a note to the cashier – indicating I could not speak and that I needed
a police officer. She told me there were none there! When I bought the cards,
they did not even ask me why I needed so many, even though they could see I was
clearly very distressed.
The mall security guard was equally unhelpful. He shrugged
his shoulders when I asked him where I could find a policemen. He did not even
ask me why? Some security!
Now “Ms. Kimberely” told me she had to register the cards.
At this point I had taken a deep breath and started googling
scams with keywords “CRA”, “Steam Cards” and was horrified to read the accounts
that I found. I knew she was fake. But I wanted her to know that I knew she was
fake.
So I asked her to give me her employee ID. She did so with a
big sigh. Then I told her I didn’t feel comfortable giving her the registration
numbers. Why don’t I finish buying all the cards, and then I’ll email the
numbers via email to the accounts dept? She sighed. Hemmed and hawed.
And finally she gave me an email id which made me want to
laugh out loud in relief! It was a completely bogus account just by the email
name. I wrote it down.
Then I asked her if she wanted me to be travelling all
around town buying up these cards? At which she perked up and said that there
was an Electronic Boutique next door where I should buy the next set of cards.
At EB I kept the phone on just to let her hear what was
being said. The guy at the counter came across o me as asked what I needed. I
told him I needed Steam® cards. The woman on the phone wants me to buy them. He
laughed and said – did she say it was from CRA? And I said yes. And he said –
hang up the phone, ma’am. It’s a big scam. So I hung up. He then advised me to
go to the nearest police station and file a report. If needed he would come
over and corroborate my story. I thanked him profusely.
Notice the difference in Customer Service at EB and Walmart®.
At Walmart® – the evident lack of training or awareness of fraud – in front of
their eyes was painful. Yet the man at EB was quick to jump to the absolutely
correct conclusion.
So I took a cab to the Toronto Metropolitan Police Station
where I duly recounted my story. He also assured me that this was a fraud that
had been going around for a while. Lots of people are getting scammed. They did
not file a report, however, they provided me the numbers for CRA Fraud
Reporting, Equifax, and TransUnion. I was also told to inform my banks about what
had happened. Because I had not given her the card numbers, they were unable to
get any ready money out of me.
My banks have flagged my accounts for any suspicious transactions.
CRA has filed a case. I have been given a case number, in case there’s anything
I want to add to it.
Just to give you’ll a bit more Info about the scammers –
should something similar happen to you:
- - The “RCMP Officer” who called me was a “Craig Williams” (I bet he is non-existent)
- - Sounded like a slightly older person (I’d say 50s) with a plummy voice
- - The Woman on the phone is “Kimberley Sharron”. A search on Google reveals her name to be that of a slightly known actress
- - She spoke in an Indian/Sri Lankan accent
- - The number she called from is 1-888-624-3195
- - The number is registered under a Kay’s Mart
- - Her “CRA Employee ID” is 100956 (who gives their employee id to a person on the phone?)
- - The email account which she gave me was: craheadoffice@accountant.com. The domain accountant.com is for sale.
What you should do:
- - See my red flags above
- - Definitely talk to the police. If you gave them money, the police will file a report for you
- - The numbers you should keep in hand are
- o CRA Fraud Reporting:1-888-495-8501
- o TransUnion 1-877-525-3823
- o EquiFax: 1-800-465-7166
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