At the height of this year's tax season, the Canada Revenue Agency discovered that hackers had obtained confidential data used by one of the country's largest tax preparation firms, H&R Block Canada.
Imposters used the company's confidential credentials to get unauthorized access into hundreds of Canadians' personal CRA accounts, change direct deposit information, submit false returns and pocket more than $6 million in bogus refunds from the public purse, an investigation by CBC's and Radio-Canada has found.
In one case, the hackers filed a return with a legitimate postal code, but a fake address on a non-existent Tomato Street.
"Obviously the door is open and some people are infiltrating the system," André Lareau, an associate tax professor at Laval University in Quebec City, said in a