Soft2Securescam registry · since 2014
Scam registry·Prize, refund, tax, finearchived

Canada Revenue Agency refund and e-Transfer scams

Emails, texts and calls pretending to be the CRA: a tax refund to claim, an INTERAC e-Transfer waiting, or a debt to pay now. The refund form collects identity and card details; the debt version wants gift cards or a transfer.

Impersonates
Canada Revenue Agency
Arrives by
email, SMS, phone call
First seen
2016-08
Last seen
2016-08
Specimens
1
Updated
2026-09-02

Right now the only version we have seen

How to recognise it

  1. The CRA does not send refunds by e-Transfer or ask for card details by email
  2. A form asking for far more than a tax agency needs
  3. Threats or deadlines on the phone

What to do

  1. Do not use the link or call back; check your account through the CRA's own site
  2. Delete it
Already called, clicked or paid? what to do in the next hour
  1. Entered a password? Change it now, and everywhere else you used the same one
  2. Entered card details? Call your bank, ask them to block the card and reissue
  3. Entered a one-time code? Sign in to the real service now and check for changes to email, phone and payment settings
Report:FTCSend us your version

How it changed

nothing to compare yet · one wave on record
2016-08refund email and fake refund form
Got a different version? A new subject line, sender, number or domain becomes the next point on this line. Redacted before publication. Send it →
02 Sept2026
Registry

Family created

Grew out of the 2016 guide. The CRA skin recurs every tax season; this record holds the 2016 wave.

Same trick, other brands

Indicators

  • None on record yet. Indicators change weekly; an empty list never means an email is safe.

In other streams

Registry data

Machine-readable
/scams/cra-tax-refund.json
Timeline feed
/scams/cra-tax-refund/feed.xml
Sources
1 · 1 change logged
Licence
CC BY 4.0 · attribution required
Created / updated
2026-09-02 / 2026-09-02