Instacoin advises the public of a notable increase in fraudulent phone calls and emails directed to Canadian citizens by scammers posing as the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), police agencies or other goverment agencies, and prospective employers in an attempt to extract payment or get you to buy Bitcoin for them.
You could be the victim of fraud or the target of criminal prosecution. Criminals are always seeking new ways to gain access to cash or to use third parties to move property or conceal transactions.
We encourage you to contact a friend, family member or the police to tell them about the call you received. The police will not arrest you over tax balances or missing immigration forms.
The displayed number may look like the CRA or a police agency, but fraudsters use technology to hide their real number. Do not give the caller any information and report the fraud to the police.
If you are considering buying or selling bitcoin for someone else, consider that you will have no practical recourse if money promised to you as a fee or commission isn't paid or if a cheque or money transfer is cancelled or reversed leaving you with a loss.
Your contact might be a criminal or working for criminals. If you haven't verified their identity and the purpose of their transactions you could be abetting or committing money-laundering, a criminal offence.
Instacoin operates a bitcoin payment service. Like other network providers, Instacoin is not responsible for your actions on the network.
Instacoin cannot help you if you deal with someone or for a purpose that you haven't taken the steps to verify.