CRA Scammers feel the long arm of the law from India

CRA Agent phone scammers arrested
in India, search continues for others
(Image above may not be a true 
reproduction of the suspect)

The chances of your dinner hours and pretty most other hours being interrupted by a phone call from a fake "Constable" of the Canadian Revenue Agency have been significantly reduced.

That after police in Mumbai, India cracked the boiler room operation of the 23 year old mastermind who, and we can't make this up, goes by the nickname of "Shaggy".

Shaggy may have gotten away, but 70 others weren't quite as fleet of foot and are now facing a trial.

It's estimated that the operation in India pulled in over 150,000 dollars US, a day and reportedly employed over 700, the RCMP is currently seeking the Canadian accomplices as part of the scam ring.

For a few years now, like the rest of the country, residents of Prince Rupert and the rest of Northwest BC have been been flooded with calls from the overly insistent phone callers of the fake CRA, promising all sorts of dire consequences should we not follow their instructions to clear up our tax difficulties.

Unfortunately a few Canadians, upwards of 1,900 fell for the scam with authorities estimating that up to 100 million dollars had been collected by the fake revenuers.

The RCMP and CRA have issued numerous statements in recent years to warn the public of the scam and to urge caution for Canadians when dealing with such scam artists, with many reporting them to the hotline created to report the telephone calls.

At one point the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre had received almost 360 complaints over a seven day period, with the operation shut down in India, the number of complaints was reduced to 25, which suggests that there are still a few satellite offices to track down.

Some notes on the raids that took place in India and the ongoing search for Shaggy can be found below:

Indian police sting breaks up fraud ring that targeted Canadians through CRA scam
Arrests of 70 in India linked to decrease in CRA phone scams, RCMP says
India call centre raid leads to steep drop in CRA scams: RCMP
CRA tax scam fraudsters caught in India
India call centre crackdown targets scammers
CRA tax scam gone for now after call centre bust: BBB

It's not stated in the information release from India if the mastermind Shaggy escaped in a van, nor if a large dog is considered to be an accomplice to the scam.

You can find out more background on other scams that are currently underway across Canada from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website