CRA Scam -PSA

[unassuming]

Received a text from 437-869-3064, saying that I need to verify my CRA account....
Didn't open up text because its a fishing scam and deleted it , anyone else get this text?

 

[K Douglas]

CRA will never text or email you.

 

[LTO_3]

Saw a news story the other night where an older person did what was asked via an email and lost thousands of dollars. Sad that it happens but surprised how often people fall for this especially with all the warnings and stories are out there.

LTO_3

 

[Carpa]

I do nothing with my cell except talk and browse the internet sometimes not even emails. The showed on 60 minutes that 60-70% of cell phones have been accessed by hackers. I'll never do banking or pay bills with my phone.

 

[superstar_88]

Ummm, it's any form of contact to verify any of your accounts and not just CRA.
Just log in to any of your saved portals to verify anything. Simple as that.
This should be basic knowledge in this day and age.

 

[SexB]

I've mentioned this a few times before but the best as the time I got a call from a CRA scammer just before 5 on a Friday night a couple of weeks before X-Mas.

 

[Phil C. McNasty]

CRA will never text or email you

Nope, they'll bust your door down and arrest you for tax evasion

 

[xmontrealer]

CRA will never text or email you.

The sole exception is they may email you to say you have new correspondence from them, and tell you to log in to your MyCRA account to view it.

Do not log in from any link on that email. Log in separately from your computer or whatever, into your My CRA account.

They never text.

 

[lavos]

Are you telling me the CRA wont accept my taxes in gift card form?

 

[xmontrealer]

The sole exception is they may email you to say you have new correspondence from them, and tell you to log in to your MyCRA account to view it.

I suggest you do not log in from any link on that email. Log in separately from your computer or whatever, in to your MY CRA account.

They never text.

As a follow up to my previous post, here is an email I received today from the CRA as an income tax instalments for 2026 reminder.

At no point does it ask for my information. The link in the first line just takes you to the MY CRA web site sign-in page.

"Canada Revenue Agency / Agence du Revenu du Canada www.cra-arc.gc.ca >

New mail from the Canada Revenue Agency / Nouveau courrier de l'Agence du Revenu du Canada

From: Canada Revenue Agency / Agence du Revenu du Canada (do-not-reply-ne_pas_repondre@cra-arc.gc.ca)

To: xmontrealer@gmail.com

Date: Friday, February 13, 2026 at 04:36 a.m. EST

English version *** La version française suit ***

Dear XMONTREALER:

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) sent you new mail online called:

Instalment reminder

This mail may require your attention.

If you are expecting a payment, you don't need to take any further action.

If you have signed up for direct deposit, the payment should be deposited into your bank account within the next 10 business days. If you don't have direct deposit, a cheque will be mailed to you.

Sign in to your CRA account, select My Account and click on Mail.

If you do not have a CRA account, go to the CRA web page to register: Canada[.ca]/cra-registration.

The CRA does not include hyperlinks in email messages for security reasons; please enter the URL above (remove the square brackets) to find the web page.

This is an automated email notification. Please do not reply.

Version française *** The English version precedes ***

Cher/Chère XMONTREALER :

L'Agence du revenu du Canada (ARC) vous a envoyé un nouveau courrier en ligne appelé :

Rappel d'acomptes provisionnels

Ce courrier pourrait nécessiter votre attention.

Si vous attendez un paiement, vous n'avez pas d'autres mesures à prendre.

Si vous êtes inscrit au dépôt direct, le paiement devrait être déposé dans votre compte bancaire dans les 10 prochains jours ouvrables. Si vous n'êtes pas inscrit au dépôt direct, un chèque vous sera envoyé par la poste.

Ouvrez une session dans votre compte de l'ARC, sélectionnez Mon dossier et cliquez sur Courrier.

Si vous n'avez pas de compte de l'ARC, allez à la page Web de l'ARC pour en créer un : Canada[.ca]/arc-enregistrement.

L'Agence n'inclut pas d'hyperliens dans ses courriels pour des raisons de sécurité. Veuillez entrer l'adresse URL ci-dessus (supprimer les crochets) pour trouver la page Web.

Le présent message est un avis par courriel automatisé. Veuillez ne pas y répondre."

 

[Anbarandy]

As a follow up to my previous post, here is an email I received today from the CRA as an income tax instalments for 2026 reminder.

At no point does it ask for my information. The link in the first line just takes you to the MY CRA web site sign-in page.

"Canada Revenue Agency / Agence du Revenu du Canada www.cra-arc.gc.ca >

New mail from the Canada Revenue Agency / Nouveau courrier de l'Agence du Revenu du Canada

From: Canada Revenue Agency / Agence du Revenu du Canada (do-not-reply-ne_pas_repondre@cra-arc.gc.ca)

To: xmontrealer@gmail.com

Date: Friday, February 13, 2026 at 04:36 a.m. EST

English version *** La version française suit ***

Dear XMONTREALER:

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) sent you new mail online called:

Instalment reminder

This mail may require your attention.

If you are expecting a payment, you don't need to take any further action.

If you have signed up for direct deposit, the payment should be deposited into your bank account within the next 10 business days. If you don't have direct deposit, a cheque will be mailed to you.

Sign in to your CRA account, select My Account and click on Mail.

If you do not have a CRA account, go to the CRA web page to register: Canada[.ca]/cra-registration.

The CRA does not include hyperlinks in email messages for security reasons; please enter the URL above (remove the square brackets) to find the web page.

This is an automated email notification. Please do not reply.

Version française *** The English version precedes ***

Cher/Chère XMONTREALER :

L'Agence du revenu du Canada (ARC) vous a envoyé un nouveau courrier en ligne appelé :

Rappel d'acomptes provisionnels

Ce courrier pourrait nécessiter votre attention.

Si vous attendez un paiement, vous n'avez pas d'autres mesures à prendre.

Si vous êtes inscrit au dépôt direct, le paiement devrait être déposé dans votre compte bancaire dans les 10 prochains jours ouvrables. Si vous n'êtes pas inscrit au dépôt direct, un chèque vous sera envoyé par la poste.

Ouvrez une session dans votre compte de l'ARC, sélectionnez Mon dossier et cliquez sur Courrier.

Si vous n'avez pas de compte de l'ARC, allez à la page Web de l'ARC pour en créer un : Canada[.ca]/arc-enregistrement.

L'Agence n'inclut pas d'hyperliens dans ses courriels pour des raisons de sécurité. Veuillez entrer l'adresse URL ci-dessus (supprimer les crochets) pour trouver la page Web.

Le présent message est un avis par courriel automatisé. Veuillez ne pas y répondre."

I received the same message today regarding a "new message" in my CRA account" which was a pay by tax installment notice.

Logged in on my laptop using my CRA account, not a link>

Mine appeared legit.

Is it?

 

[xmontrealer]

I received the same message today regarding a "new message" in my CRA account" which was a pay by tax installment notice.

Logged in on my laptop using my CRA account, not a link>

Mine appeared legit.

Is it?

Mine was legit, so I assume yours was too.

The instalment reminders are probably all sent out on or about the same date.

 

[onomatopoeia]

As a follow up to my previous post, here is an email I received today from the CRA as an income tax instalments for 2026 reminder....

The first clue that this was a scam was "DEAR XMONTREALER"

 

[Anbarandy]

The first clue that this was a scam was "DEAR XMONTREALER"

Mine was addressed to:

Dear Rube, Hayseed or Patsy

 

[LTO_3]

I've received those same notifications for years. That's when I go to their site to download any T-slip info I need and see my return or payment info. Never had a problem. But if I see anything unusual about such an e-mail I ban it immediately...it's only happened once years ago but never since.

LTO_3

 

[xmontrealer]

The first clue that this was a scam was "DEAR XMONTREALER"

Hey, I had my birth name legally changed to "xmontrealer" years ago...

Kind of like "Cher" or "Prince"!

 

[kherg007]

Hey, I had my birth name legally changed to "xmontrealer" years ago...

Kind of like "Cher" or "Prince"!

Easier than "the artist formerly known as montrealer".
Just pop in the "x" and Bob's yer uncle.

 

[xmontrealer]

Easier than "the artist formerly known as montrealer".Just pop in the "x" and Bob's yer uncle.

Where did you hear about my Uncle Bob?

From the interwebs:

What's the meaning of the phrase 'Bob's your uncle'?
‘Bob’s your uncle’ is an archetypically English phrase and is so familiar here for it to have spawned jokey variants. As ‘take the Mickey’ has an extended alternative ‘extract the Michael’, ‘Bob’s your uncle’ is sometimes extended to ‘Robert’s your auntie’s husband’. People in other English speaking countries won’t be so familiar with the phrase, so I’ll give some examples that may explain the meaning.
‘Bob’s your uncle’ is an exclamation that is used when ‘everything is alright’ and the simple means of obtaining the successful result is explained. For example, “left over right; right over left, and Bob’s your uncle – a reef knot” or, “she slipped the officer £100 and, Bob’s your uncle’, she was off the charge”.
What's the origin of the phrase 'Bob's your uncle'?
But who was Bob?
‘Bob’s your uncle’ is one of those phrases that keep etymologists off the street corners. Despite its having been the subject of considerable research, no one is sure of its origin. As with all such mysteries there are plenty of suggestions, but I’ll limit things here to the most plausible two – the favourite and an outsider:
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil is believed to be the source of the expression ‘Bob’s your uncle’.

1. The first idea, and one that many believe, is that Bob and his nephew were the Marquess of Salisbury and Arthur Balfour.
Like many Victorian aristocrats, Salisbury, the 20th British Prime Minister, didn’t lack for names and his was as full as his beard – Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. For our purposes we can cut that down to just ‘Bob’.

Salisbury is widely believed to be the Uncle Bob that the expression refers to. ‘Bob’s your uncle’ is said to derive from the supposed nepotism of Lord Salisbury, in appointing a favourite nephew, Arthur Balfour, to several political posts in the 1880s.

Arthur Balfour – the nephew half of the expression ‘Bob’s your uncle’.


Balfour went on to become Prime Minister after his uncle, His early political appointments were considered inappropriate as he had shown no prior interest in public work.
It is unlikely that Arthur Balfour would ever have become a celebrated politician without the patronage of his influential uncle. Piers Brendon, in Eminent Edwardians, 1979, writes:

“In 1887, Balfour was unexpectedly promoted to the vital front line post of Chief Secretary for Ireland by his uncle Robert, Lord Salisbury.”

The link here between an uncle Bob who was Prime Minister and a ‘Bob’s your uncle’ passport to a cushy life is easy to make. The fact that the word ‘nepotism’ derives from ‘nephew’ makes the link seem all the more neat. Such neatness is often the mark of a back-formation, that is, an explanation that is made up after the event.

Just as an aside, a variant of the phrase has been taken up by the Greek community in Australia. They use ‘Spiro is your uncle’ to denote nepotism there.