New CRA scam phone calls more aggressive than usual, says Paradise man

A Paradise man wants to warn people about a series of scam phone calls he received lately from a voice claiming to be the Canada Revenue Agency.

Dave Bruce, who actually works for CRA himself, said both he and his father got severalvoice mailson Friday, all a little different but similar in tone.

I feel bad for anyone that might be a little bitmarginalized, particularly seniors.- Dave Bruce

He said while scam phone calls are nothing new, he said these were much more aggressive and intense, compared to what he's heard police warn the public aboutin the past.

"They say they're going to take what you have, they're going to have the police come, they want a call back from you or your attorney, they're going to seize assets andthey're going to come to your door to do the paper work," he said.

"So I was just waiting for someone to show up here yesterday."

Bruce says the phone calls came from phone number 1-855-684-7211. To help get the word out, he recorded one of the calls, which can be heard in the clip below.

St John's Morning Show0:32Scam phone call recording

Scam phone call recording

Bruce said the voice was not an actual person, but some sort of voice-to-text software. While he was easily able to tell it was a scam, his concern is that his elderly father got the same call. He worries that the aggressive nature may scare some vulnerable people into giving out information that could come back to hurt them.

"My father thought it was a little bit believable yesterday.I've seen CBC issue warnings to let people know that this is on the go, but this one is a little different than anything I've seen before," said Bruce.

"This one was just reallydifferent, and I feel bad for anyone that might be a little bit marginalized, particularly seniors."