Police in Canada say $340,000 lost to fraudsters

Here's the latest scam.

People call and say they're from a government tax collection office -- in this case the Canada Revenue Agency -- and say you need to send money or you will be prosecuted.

Evidently, people fall for it.

Police in North Toronto say the scam is sweeping the region and more than $340,000 has been lost to 45 victims.

Here's how victim 'Linda' described it to the CBC.

Linda said the fraudsters called her cell phone and advised her that she was under investigation for tax fraud and that if she didn't resolve the issue immediately, she'd be arrested.

"They're very convincing and they keep at it," Linda said. "They say there's a warrant for your arrest, and York Regional Police will be giving you a call shortly."

Linda said the fraudsters called her cell phone and advised her that she was under investigation for tax fraud and that if she didn't resolve the issue immediately, she'd be arrested.

"They're very convincing and they keep at it," Linda said. "They say there's a warrant for your arrest, and York Regional Police will be giving you a call shortly."

At first, Linda said she suspected the call was illegitimate, but she was eventually worn down by the tactics used by the fraudsters.

She told reporters they knew some of her personal information, and one of the caller's numbers showed up as "York Regional Police" on her cell phone.

Eventually, Linda was convinced to withdraw $12,000 from her bank and take it to a convenience store in Richmond Hill, where she deposited the money into a Bitcoin ATM. The machine converted the cash into an untraceable, online cryptocurrency and transferred the funds to the caller.

Linda said she'd never heard of Bitcoin before receiving the call.

"They made me believe that it was a machine used by Revenue Canada to transfer money quickly," she said at the news conference outside the store.

The whole ordeal lasted around four hours, she said, after which she began to realize what had happened.

"'Stupid,' you say, 'How could you fall for this?' I did, and I feel embarrassed about it," Linda said. "I was completely destroyed."

BitCoin and other cryptocurrencies are very handy for criminal schemes and that's one of the reasons I expect 2018 will be the year governments push back.

That said, a fool and his money are soon parted.