Bermudians are being warned to hold tightly to personal information after an IRS scam surfaced on the Island yesterday. received a fax yesterday purporting to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the US Treasury Department.

The letter stated that bank records indicate the recipient (in this case, ) was a non-resident alien of the US and, as a result, was exempt from paying tax on accounts and other financial benefits held in the USA.

It added that the IRS needed to update its records to help protect the exemption.

The letter asked the recipient to fill out a form called W-8Ben11, and fax it back to the fax number indicated. If the recipient actually is a US resident alien or company and this is an ?incorrect form?, the recipient is urged to return the form and they will be sent a new form ? W9095 ? to complete.

The forms require information such as bank names and addresses, account numbers and social security numbers, and other personal details which can be used to access bank accounts.

Recipients are urged to fill out the form and return it within seven days or lose the reporting and withholding exemption, resulting in withholding of 31 percent of the account?s interest. The letter is then signed by ?Jerry Green, Director of Information?.

Pink Pages president Robin Blackburne also received the form, and, becoming suspicious, contacted yesterday afternoon.

?You?ve got to read it several times, it looked pretty genuine at first,? he said. ?But then you read it through.?

Several things tipped Mr. Blackburne off. First was the date. Written as ?Date: 29th April, 2004? Mr. Blackburne observed Americans write the date the other way around (April 29), and generally would not precede the date with the word ?Date?.

Next came misplaced commas, erratic capitalisation, a title beginning ?Dear Sir? and not ?Dear Sir/Madam?, the complete lack of any specific names in the document, and different sizes and types of font within the letter.

One of the questions on the form asks: ?How often do you come to USA and when did you arrive last?? ? with no space other than boxes labelled Yes and No for recipients to answer in. The USA is termed as the United ?State? of America several times throughout the form.

The form also asks for recipients? passport numbers ? twice.

A check with the IRS by showed neither forms W9095 nor W-8Ben11 exist. According to an IRS statement, W9095 appears to be an imitation of the genuine IRS form W-9, ?Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification?, while W-8Ben11 appears to be mimicking the form W-8BEN, ?Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding?.

The genuine W-9 and W-8BEN forms can be found at www.irs.gov.

The scam has been around in various forms since at least 2002, when the IRS first released warnings about the attempts to steal identity and financial data.

?This is just another example of fraudsters trying to scam unsuspecting individuals out of their money,? Police spokesperson Dwayne Caines said yesterday.

?Our advice is very constant with advice we have handed out in the past. Do not give personal information to anyone over the phone, e-mail, fax or letter unless you have vetted the individual or organisation thoroughly.

?If in doubt, contact the Bermuda Police Service and ask to speak to our Financial Investigation Unit or the Fraud Unit.?

The US Consulate offered similar advice after clearing a statement with the IRS.

?The IRS has confirmed it does not send communications seeking confidential information from individuals and businesses in this manner,? the statement said.

IRS communications will always provide the name and telephone number of the origin of the communication that is verifiable, it continued.

?Individuals and businesses should NEVER provide confidential information such as bank account numbers, identity numbers or PINs in response to unsolicited mail.

?The IRS has been notified of these solicitations and the matter is under investigation.?

It is unknown at this time whether any Bermudians have already been taken in by the scam.