March is Fraud Prevention Month – be aware of scammers posing as the CBSA

FILE: Vancouver, Canada – United States, Customs and Border Protection CBP) and Vancouver, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) work together for border crossing efficiency. United States and Canada Customs work together in the Vancouver International Airport NEXUS office processing passengers. The NEXUS program allows low risk pre-screened travelers expedited processing when entering the United States and Canada. CBP Photographer: Donna Burton. (Photo By U.S. Customs and Border Protection – CBP International Travel Preclearance Operations in Canada, Public Domain)

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) reminds the public that the CBSA will never contact individuals by email, web, text message or telephone to ask for payment or personal information, including a Social Insurance Number (SIN), a passport number or personal banking details.

The methods and messages used by the scammers are increasingly sophisticated and ever-changing. In some cases, telephone calls may display numbers and employee names that falsely appear to be from the CBSA. Emails may contain CBSA logos, email addresses or employee names and titles to mislead the public.

The CBSA never initiates a request for SIN and credit card numbers by telephone, text, or email. If this happens, please ignore, hang up, don’t answer the text or email and report the incident to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

The CBSA may call recipients/importers to clarify package declaration details, however, if you receive a call telling you that you must pay duties and taxes on a package that the CBSA is holding and threatens penalties, including jail time, it is a scam.

More information is available on our webpage on how to protect yourself against fraud.