Beware of “Unpaid Fines” Scam and CRA Scams
The North Bay Police Service has been made aware that there is a scam circulating involving “unpaid fines” and would like to warn the public in regards to this, and other popular scams.
Recently a scam has been circulating in regards “unpaid fines”, and several reports about this have been made to the North Bay Police Service over the past week. In this particular scam, the victim has received a text message from the “Ontario Courts” advising that they have an unpaid fine that has not been settled. The message encourages the person to click a link to pay the fine before a certain date, to avoid paying a late fee. This message is a scam, and the link should not be clicked. The public is encouraged to delete the message and block the caller. The public is reminded that the government, police, or court services do not request payments through text messages, or by clicking on links that are randomly sent.
Also, at this time of year, as it is tax season, there are many different types of scams from people claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The CRA will never ask for payment through a text message, a high pressured phone call or social media platforms, such as Facebook Messenger. The CRA, or any other reputable organization will never ask for payments involving gift cards, itunes cards, bit coin or other non-standard methods of payment, and will never threaten arrest or jail for unpaid or overdue fines.
If you receive any messages through texts, emails or social media platforms from someone requesting payment that you do not know about, or from someone claiming that you will be arrested if payment is not made, it is a scam, and should be ignored and, deleted.
If you have been the victim of any scam and have lost money, please call the police service in your jurisdiction and make a report. If you have not lost money, however still wish to report a scam, please call the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501, or visit them on-line at www.antifraudcentre.ca