Saskatoon police warn of tax refund scams

SASKATOON – Tax time also means the return of tax scams. Saskatoon police say email and phone tax scams are making the rounds in the city.

Officers from the economic crime unit say the scams are common at this time of year as scammers attempt to pry personal information from victims in order to defraud them.

Emails currently circulating indicate the recipient is receiving a refund from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) via Interac transfer and to click on a link to deposit the money.

Police say CRA does not contact taxpayers in this manner.

READ MORE: Canada Revenue Agency warns of recent scam involving money transfers

Global News has recently received four of those emails:

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Dear saskatoon@globalnews.ca:64915095765c8645
Canada Revenue Agency has sent you an INTERAC e-Transfer (previously INTERAC Email Money Transfer).64915095765c8645
Amount: $500.29 (CAD)64915095765c8645
Sender’s Message: A message was not provided64915095765c8645
Expiry Date: 25/04/2015
64915095765c8645

The link purports to send a person to the CRA website but instead sends the user to a fake site. Global News online security measures brought up the following warning when clicking on the provided link:

View image in full screen

Police say people should contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 to report this type of activity.