OTTAWA – A recent Auditor General report indicates that India-based scam artists posing as the Canada Revenue Agency are much better at collecting tax revenue than the real CRA.
“Their techniques at exploiting people’s fears to make fraudulent payments is far superior,” said Auditor General Michael Ferguson who compared the two organizations. “So far, over $5 billion in owed taxes have been paid albeit to the wrong people whereas the right people couldn’t collect a toonie if it fell out of someone’s pocket.”
With $44 billion in uncollect taxes, Canada’s tax agency has been reluctant to pursue anyone for uncontested debts, unless they’re poor and can’t afford a lawyer in tax court.
An anonymous representative speaking on behalf of a call centre in India scamming Canadians said business was booming.
“I don’t know what ‘CRA’ stands for, but thousands of Canadians respond immediately to the term,” said the unnamed source. “They also respond when I say ‘RCMP and ‘we’re seizing your assets unless you pay.’”
The Delhi-based facility has been processing fake tax payments quicker than the federal bureaucracy since it has more employees than the CRA, and provides better customer service by picking up the phone when called, concluded the AG’s findings. Unlike Canada’s public service, fake CRA agents are paid on time and with the right amount since they’re not using the Phoenix Pay system.
In response to the report, the CRA said it is addressing the tax debt by auditing another charity for political activity.
