Beware of an email scam pretending to be from the CRA

As a tax preparer I am very familiar with many of the procedures of the Canada Revenue Agency.  At this time of year you may be particularly susceptible to a fraudulent email that a client forwarded to me because she was not sure if it was legitimate.  The CRA will NEVER contact you in this manner and you should block, report and delete any such email you may receive. If in doubt of any email with a financial related aspect please send it to me for review.

Here is the text of the fraudulent email. Notice how the fraudster uses an email address chosen to resemble an official one and sound innocuous, uses a modest amount as the carrot to get you to click on a link, states there may be delays in responding yet implies there is a deadline and states that the message is from the CRA “security department”.

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From: “refund@cra-arc.gc.ca” <supportadmin@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca>
Date: May 15, 2014 at 2:25:33 PM EDT
To: your email address
Subject: Tax Refund $335.50

Dear Canada Revenue Agency customer,

After the last annual calculation of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $335.50.

Please submit the tax refund form on Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website and allow us 3-5 business days to process the information.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.

For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

To access the form for your tax refund, please Click Here <http://revenueonlinecenterupdate.vxcmih6.for-some.biz/onlinerevenuecenter/getStatus_en.htm>

Thank you,
Canada Revenue Agency Online Security Department.