A Bitcoin tax scam has duped more than 40 York Region residents out of more than $300,000 since August.
A Richmond Hill resident, who only wanted to be identified as Linda, was one of those targeted in the scam. She thought she was in trouble with the Canadian Revenue Agency.
“They just keep going. You have to spend; you have to go get more cards. They don’t give up,” she says. “I told my husband if they would’ve had a gun to my head it would've felt the same way.
The fraudsters told their victims they were overdue on taxes and threatened them with arrest if they didn’t settle.
In Linda’s case, she was bilked out of $12,000 in order to make the headache stop. She converted that cash into Bitcoin at the local convenience store and it was gone.
“How could you take honest people for such a ride? How can you be so criminal?” she asked.
When that money is converted into bitcoin it could be in a cell phone around the corner or anywhere in the world.
York Regional Police still don’t know how widespread the CRA scam is. They’re asking anyone who was targeted to contact them or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
With files from The Canadian Press.
