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Scammers now using Canadian government phone numbers to seem legitimate: reports

Last Updated Nov 6, 2019 at 7:10 am MDT

FILE - In this Aug. 11, 2019, file photo, a man uses a cell phone in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Fraudsters are using government phone numbers to trick Canadians into trusting them

The agencies include Service Canada, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, and the RCMP

TORONTO (680 NEWS) – Fraudsters have found a new way to part Canadians from their hard-earned money.

The CBC reports scammers are now using phone numbers from more than a dozen federal government agencies, including police departments, to defraud people, making those calls look legitimate.

Those agencies include Service Canada, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency.

Some of the calls warn potential victims their social insurance numbers have been compromised, while other victims are told they owe the government money and are in legal trouble, much like the scheme in which fraudsters pretend to be from the Canada Revenue Agency.

Fraud experts are calling it organized crime on an international level, telling people to be vigilant and never to give out any personal information over the phone.