OTTAWA —
The Canada Revenue Agency is seeking to reassure taxpayers whose online accounts have suddenly been locked that the move was not due to a cyber security breach.
The measure also prompted a notification from the CRA informing users that their email address had been removed from their account, causing a flurry of concern and confusion online Tuesday.
Some complained of receiving “ERR.021” and “CER.019” codes and said they’d been trying to call the agency for a week about the issue.
“This step is taken proactively by the CRA as a security precaution in the context of ongoing investigative work, and is not due to a cyber security breach of CRA systems,” reads a statement from the agency.
“As a further precaution, access to an impacted account gets locked.”
It did not indicate what kind of investigation required locking users accounts. They did state that taxpayers who have been impacted can expect a letter by mail with instructions on how to unlock services.
