Protect yourself against fraud

March 2, 2026
Ottawa, Ontario

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is warning Canadians about scammers who pretend to be CBSA officials.

There are many sophisticated frauds and scams in Canada. Some attempt to imitate federal government services to gain access to personal and financial information.

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

As part of Fraud Prevention Month, the CBSA is sharing tips to help you recognize, report and protect yourself from fraud:

1. The CBSA never contacts individuals by email, web, text message or telephone to ask for payment or personal information.
2. The CBSA never initiates a request for a Social Insurance Number (SIN) or a credit card number by telephone, text, or email.
3. If this happens, please ignore, hang up, don’t answer the text or email and report the incident to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

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.