Article content

You cannot pay your taxes with bitcoin, say North Vancouver Mounties.

The cryptocurrency may be making great leaps forward in value — one bitcoin currently equals about $14,730 Canadian — but the Canada Revenue Agency would still prefer you pay in regular reserve currency.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Bit by Bitcoin: tax scammers using cryptocurrency prompt warning from North Vancouver RCMP Back to video

It’s a lesson one North Vancouver resident learned the hard way, after losing $3,000 in a telephone tax scam.

According to police, on Jan. 18, the victim received a phone call from a man alleging to be an employee of the Canada Revenue Agency. The male told the victim he owed $8,000 in unpaid taxes and would be immediately arrested and imprisoned if he hung up the phone without paying immediately.

The victim was told to make the payment using a bitcoin terminal, and made a transfer of $3,000 to a bitcoin reference code number supplied by the fake tax agent.

Sometime after making the transfer, the victim realized he’d been scammed.