Tax Tip Thursday

I keep hearing about people being scammed out of their money, so I thought I would share a story and offer some advice.

There was a recent story where a person was scammed out of $16,000 from his line of credit. The headline was focussed on the fact that the bank was charging him interest on the money, but I think the headline should be Protect yourself from Scammers!

The strange part of this story is that he was reimbursed for 1 of 3 withdrawals, but the bank says it is not responsible for losses from scams.

Storytime & Lessons Learned

The victim received a call from a man claiming to be a bank employee, warning him that fraudsters had accessed his bank account. The phone number matched his bank’s, making it seem legitimate.

First Lesson: Fraudsters can make any number appear on your Caller ID that they want!!! They can choose anything. Don’t trust what Caller ID says.

The caller then asked for a verification code which was sent to Mathelier’s phone, supposedly to confirm his identity.

Likely what happened is the Fraudster had gotten a hold of the victims bank card number, but could not come up with the pin. By requesting a new password and authentication code would have to be sent to the phone number on file. So while they had him on the phone, they started that process and the victim gave them the authentication code, allowing them into this account.

“I knew I shouldn’t share codes over the phone, but he offered for me to call the bank back to continue this process. He said we had to act quickly because money was being withdrawn”

“I was panicking.”

Second Lesson: Fraudsters will always create a sense of urgency that you have to act NOW!!! Anything that is that urgent and involves money is probably not legitimate!

After sharing this code, three large withdrawals were made from his personal line of credit.

Third Lesson: The banks will do everything in their power to NOT reimburse you for the fraud. Unfortunately, us maintaining the security on our account is our responsibility. Unfortunately this happens every single day.

Fourth Lesson: If you are unsure about a situation, ask the person for their name and number and let them know you will call them back. Write down everything you can about the phone call and contact the bank in question using the number on the back of your card – NOT THE NUMBER THE FRAUDSTER MIGHT GIVE YOU.

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, this type of phone scam, where a fraudster pretends to be a bank investigator, is on the rise across the country. This is apparently one of the top reported scams. So far, in 2023, the centre has received 1,830 reports involving 681 victims. Nearly $6 million was lost in the first six months of 2023.

I think these things happen primarily to older people who might be less knowledgeable about the capabilities of fraudsters, so please be sure to let your parents, grandparents, friends, etc… know about these things. The more people that know, the better and the less likely that some one will get burned.

Did you get Scammed?

Your first call should be to your bank. Change your passwords and passwords, cancel your cards, and report the fraud. This way you can at least stop any more damage from occurring. After that, you can do whatever is possible to undo whatever has been done.

While we can’t really help you pursue the fraudster who stole your money, we can help you owe as little as possible in taxes. It won’t solve a $16,000 theft, but it will make a difference to your bottom line. Make an appointment today!

Disclaimer:

This article provides information of a general nature only. It is only current at the posting date. It is not updated and it may no longer be current. It does not provide legal or tax advice nor can it or should it be relied upon. All tax situations are specific to each individual. If you have specific tax questions you should book an appointment for a 1 on 1 consultation.