How you can protect your CRA account against scams – Moneysenense

Of all the organizations we deal with at least once a year, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) seems a difficult target for cyber crime. The federal department makes it difficult to secure its portal and taxpayer information with multi-factor authentication. But taxpayers themselves can unintentionally give criminals the keys to their CRA accounts.

“Even with the best systems that are present, if consumers are not wary about what identification data they have, they can be compromised,” warns Carl Davies, head of fraud and identity at Equifax Canada. Fraud artists not only try to get hold of your tax refund; They see the CRA as a repository of personal information they can sell or use to steal your identity – for example by taking credit or applying for government benefits in your name. “Criminals try to step on your CRA account to collect personal information to use that information to commit fraud, either at the CRA or other institutions,” says Davies.

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How scammers get your personal information

Do you think it would be difficult for someone to hack your data? Davies remembers that a family member once passed on an apparently impossible chain report on Facebook. The message with a holiday theme asked users to combine the name of their pet with their mother’s maiden name to come up with their ‘eleven name’. It had hundreds of answers.

“It’s a scam,” says Davies. 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 get access to their accounts back.

But you don’t have to fall for a scam like this to make yourself vulnerable to identity theft.

“If I am on social media and my full name, my date of birth, photos of my house, where I live, that is really a problem,” says Davies. “Now a fraudster has everything they need to indicate that yes, this is me.” They can answer security questions, passwords and more resetting. As soon as scammers enter your CRA account, they can obtain even more personal information, including financial information. For example, they can extrapolate your income, which gives them an idea of how much money they can borrow in your name without collecting red flags.

How you can protect your CRA account against identity theft

Minimizing the risk of fraud via your CRA account starts to be careful with the personal information you share online. Here are some other steps that Davies recommends:

• Use a complex password for your CRA, my account. “Make it difficult to guess,” he says. Better yet, use a password manager to come up with and keep passwords for different accounts.
• Check your credit report regularly. Take a look every month. It will reveal all attempts to request credit using your identity, valid or not.
• Never log in to your CRA account using public Wi-Fi. Criminals who use the same unsecured network can hack your device and steal your info. Never log in to apps and accounts using public internet services. Your home network is generally safe.
• Watch out for phishing scams. Do not respond to unexpected calls, text messages or e -mails that are reportedly from the CRA. Change your telephone settings so that only calls from your contact list come through. (Everyone else can leave a message.) And confirm the correct telephone number online before calling. If the agency really tries to reach, a tax agent would not have a problem to contact the CRA directly.

What to do if your CRA account has been hacked

If you suspect that your CRA account has been broken, this is what you have to do:

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• Report the CRA immediately phone or online.
• Contact all financial institutions with which you have accounts, as well as all where a third party tried to set an account in your name (this is on your credit report).
• Change the passwords on your CRA, bank and other financial accounts.

Davies has spoken with many victims of fraud, including Canadians who have received calls, e -mails and SMS messages, supposedly from the CRA. Many victims admitted that something was wrong, even before the fraud took place, but followed by the requests of the scammers.

“Trust your instincts,” advises Davies. “If something feels wrong, just stop what you do. If you don’t trust it, hang up and call or e -mail the CRA directly.”

Avoid digital fraud with credit monitoring

A great tool for scare fraud, along with other forms of cyber crime, is Equifax complete^Tm Protection. This subscription service helps to keep your personal data and devices safe online and helps you to check your credit and identity.

If your identity is stolen, an Equifax Identity Specialist will help you to restore it. You can get up to $ 1 million in identity theft insurance to cover out-of-pocket costs (not available in Quebec).

Features of Equifax Complete protection include:

• Daily credit monitoring and warnings to inform you of important changes to your Equifax credit report, such as a new credit card or loan application.
• Dark web monitoring, which monitor hidden websites where criminals like to hang around and trade data to see if your personal information appears there.
• Monitoring of social media provided by market leader Zerofox, to warn you about suspicious activities on your social media accounts.
• Online data reproduction by NordVPN and online generating password and storage by Nordpass
• Parental supervision of Bitdefender to limit to which websites and apps your children have access
• Bitdefender device protection to stop phishing attempts and protect devices against viruses and malware.

Equifax Complete protection costs $ 34.95 per month. For more information, Visit the Equifax website.

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About Michael McCullough

Michael is a financial writer and editor in Duncan, BC He is a former editor -in -chief of Canadian Business and editorial director of Canada Wide Media. He also writes for the Globe and Mail and BcBusiness.