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If fraudsters steal your personal information, they might hack into your tax account, file fake tax returns and more. Here’s how to protect yourself.
This is part of a series of columns about how to protect important information and people in your life against fraud and scams. Stay tuned for more.
Of all the organizations we deal with at least once a year, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) would seem to be a hard target for cyber-crime. The federal department takes pains to make its portal and taxpayer information secure with multi-factor authentication. But taxpayers themselves may unwittingly give criminals the keys to their CRA accounts.
“Even with the best systems in place, if consumers aren’t wary about what identification data they have, they could get compromised,” warns Carl Davies, Head of Fraud and Identity at Equifax Canada. Fraud artists aren’t just trying to get their hands on your tax refund; they see the CRA as a repository of personal data they can sell or use to steal your identity—for example, by taking out credit or applying for government benefits in your name. “Criminals are trying to get into your CRA account in order to collect personal information to leverage that information to commit fraud, either at the CRA or other institutions,” Davies says.
Equifax Complete Protection is a credit and cybersecurity protection service designed to help Canadians spot the signs of identity fraud faster.
Subscription price: $34.95 per month
Think it would be hard for someone to hack into your data? Davies recalls a family member once passing along a seemingly innocuous chain message on Facebook. The holiday-themed message asked users to combine their pet’s name with their mother’s maiden name to come up with their “elf name.” It had hundreds of replies.
“It’s a scam,” Davies says. The message was a way for criminals to obtain two of the most common pieces of information used by the CRA, as well as financial institutions, for people to recover access to their accounts.
But you don’t have to fall for a scam like this to make yourself vulnerable to identity theft.
“If I’m on social media and I’m putting out my full name, my date of birth, pictures of my home, where I live, that’s really a problem,” Davies says. “Now a fraudster has everything they need in order to indicate to the CRA that yes, this is actually me.” They can answer security questions, reset passwords and more. Once scammers get into your CRA account, they can obtain still more personal information, including financial information. For example, they can extrapolate your income, which gives them a sense of how much money they can borrow in your name without raising red flags.
Minimizing the risk of fraud through your CRA account starts with being cautious about the personal information you share online. Here are some other steps Davies recommends:
If you suspect your CRA account has been breached, here’s what to do:
Davies has spoken to many victims of fraud, including Canadians who received calls, emails and text messages supposedly from the CRA. Many victims admitted to sensing something was amiss, even before the fraud took place, but followed through with the scammers’ requests.
“Trust your instincts,” Davies advises. “If something doesn’t feel right, just stop what you’re doing. If you don’t trust it, hang up, and call or email the CRA directly.”
A great tool to deter fraud, along with other forms of cybercrime, is Equifax CompleteTM Protection. This subscription service helps to keep your personal data and devices safe online, and helps you monitor your credit and identity.
If your identity is stolen, an Equifax identity restoration specialist will help you recover it—plus you can get up to $1 million in identity theft insurance to cover out-of-pocket expenses (not available in Quebec).
Features of Equifax Complete Protection include:
Equifax Complete Protection costs $34.95 per month. To learn more, visit the Equifax website.
This is a paid post that is informative but also may feature a client’s product or service. These posts are written, edited and produced by MoneySense with assigned freelancers.
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