Frustration and worry after some Canadians locked out of CRA accounts

Feb. 17: Some CRA accounts locked Many people with accounts at the Canada Revenue Agency have been locked out, and there's growing frustration as many don't know why.

CALGARY — Many Canadians with online Canada Revenue Agency accounts have been locked out and there is growing frustration because they don’t understand why.

Some users received a notice saying their email address had been removed from the account and that they’ll no longer receive any messages from the CRA.

Others are concerned because they haven’t been able to get through to the agency over the phone to resolve the issue and don’t know what this means for things like benefit payments.

Jeremy Lomenda from Lacombe was locked out of his account Tuesday night and is concerned about what this means for his personal information.

“I went to login to see what was going on and all I get is a message (err.021) and it won’t let me in," he said.

It’s a similar story shared by many including Kimberley Doucette in Calgary who has been locked out of her account for three days.

She says she’s beyond frustrated after spending hours on hold on the phone with the CRA trying to sort it out.

“I was told by a gentleman yesterday it was due to the breech in security last year however I was able to access my account up until a few days ago,” she told CTV Calgary.

In August, the CRA temporarily shut down its online services after hackers fraudulently accessed government services in three separate breaches that comprised thousands of Canadians personal information.

CRA issued a statement Wednesday saying the affected accounts "were not impacted by a cyber attack."

"These accounts have not been compromised and the action taken to lock the accounts was a preventative measure," it read in part.

"In this particular case, an internal analysis revealed evidence that some account credentials (i.e. user IDs and passwords) may have been compromised, and may be available for use by unauthorized individuals.

"These credentials were not compromised as a result of a breach of CRA’s systems. Rather, they have been obtained through a variety of means by sources external to the CRA. As a precautionary security measure and to prevent unauthorized access to these accounts, we took swift action to lock the accounts and are in the process of contacting the legitimate account holders to unlock their accounts."

CRA says it will "work with impacted individuals to re-establish their credentials and unlock their accounts. There is no urgent need for taxpayers to contact us imminently unless they are an emergency benefit applicant and have active applications in our system. We will prioritize these calls to minimize delays in the delivery of these crucially important emergency benefits."