Edmonton senior warns about fake tax debt scam

An Edmonton woman targeted by an "aggressive" con artist is warning other seniors to be wary of fraudsters claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency.

Joyce Pearson, 77,  received a call at her home in Glenora on Thursday from a man purporting to be a revenue collections agent.

"I realized it was something strange, and I was sure it was a scam," she said.

But she didn't fall for it.

Pearson was told she owed $4,200 in back taxes, and had an hour to pay her debt.

"He threatened that if I did not pay, that the RCMP were going to arrest me," Pearson said during a Monday interview with Edmonton AM host Mark Connolly.

"He gave me a case number, and told me that if I did not pay, and I tried to fight it, it would cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Pearson says the caller was convincing and aggressive.  The scammer knew her social insurance number, claiming to know the details of her credit history.

"It was a very involved scheme, because it actually took 35 minutes — that's how long I spent on the phone."

The CRA says it gets calls every day from people who have been called by fraudsters masquerading as agents.

The agency first issued a warning about the scam on its website in June, noting an increase in these types of calls and the use of unpleasant tactics such as "aggressive and forceful language to scare (taxpayers) into paying fictitious debt."

Canadians across the country have fallen victim to the scam, but Pearson wasn't convinced.  

"I told him, 'I must congratulate you on a very, very articulated scheme that must have taken you quite some planning, and you ruined the whole thing by threatening an immediate arrest.' So he just hung up."

Although Pearson knew she had nothing to fear, she worries other seniors will not be as cautious.

"It was very, very intimidating," she said. "It was a well-worked-out scheme and was meant to be very frightening."