Revenu Québec could now communicate with you via text message or email, a new development that is causing concern for a consumer watchdog group because text messages are often a symbol of fraud.
Previously, if you received an SMS from Revenu Québec, you could immediately conclude that it was phishing, as this department did not use this method of communication.
This made it easy to make the population aware of the risks of phishing. The advice was always the same: ignore text messages from Revenu Québec.
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But this year you will see in your income tax return that it is possible to allow Revenu Québec to communicate with you via SMS and email. To do this, it is necessary to enter the information on lines 10, 10.1 and 10.2, which were added to the income tax form this year.
Revenu Québec says it will not use text messages and emails to request personal information or notify taxpayers of payment.
These communication channels are used to inform taxpayers about a change in their bank details, address, email address and after receipt of the income tax return.
The Association for the Protection of Consumer Interests of the North Coast believes that it would have been better if Revenu Québec had stopped using text messaging.
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According to its coordinator Frédéric Boudreault, this is an invitation to malicious individuals who are particularly active during tax season.
“By enabling text message communication with taxpayers, it opens the door to these attacks and fraud.” It is the taxpayer’s responsibility to determine which text message from Revenu Québec is genuine and which is fraudulent. The responsibility now lies with him,” he emphasized.
Even if you do not complete the fields for Revenu Québec to send you text messages or emails, the organization may still send you some, as described in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the website.
Revenu Québec had not responded at the time of writing.