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Warden Message - Phishing Emails claiming to be sent by the IRS
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| Posted by Sandy on Friday, November 20 2009 @ 13:14:12 CET
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 Dear American Citizen:
It is come to the Consular Section's attention that U.S. citizens living
abroad are receiving e-mail messages purportedly from the Internal
Revenue Service requesting personal financial information. Please note
that the IRS never requests information from taxpayers in this manner.
There is a new phishing scheme which is targeting non-resident aliens
(NRAs) by requesting that you complete an attached but fraudulent
W-8BEN. The official form W-8BEN does not request bank account details.
A correct copy of the W-8BEN can be found on the IRS website:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf.
A second scheme professes to be from the IRS Office in London. The
sender states that he is an IRS employee and asks you to pay a transfer
charge or processing fee in order to obtain a substantial sum of money.
Do not reply to these attempts to gain your personal information or your
money. The IRS does NOT request detailed personal information through
e-mail. These are a hoax and have been reported to our criminal
investigators for appropriate action. More information can be found in
the IRS.gov article How to Report and Identify Phishing and E-mail Scams
at IRS.gov .
Below is a sample text from one of these schemes:
Dear Sir/Madam,
Our records indicate that you are a non-resident alien. As a result, you
are exempted from United States of America Tax reporting and
withholdings on interest paid on your account and other financial
dealing to protect your exemption from tax on your account and other
financial benefit in rectifying your exemption status.
Therefore, you are to authenticate the following by completing form
W-8BEN, and return to us as soon as possible through the fax number:
+1-(717)441-3822
If you are a USA Citizen and resident, this form W-8BEN is not meant for
you, please indicate "USA Citizen/Resident" on the form and return it to
us. We shall then send you a form W9095.
When completing form W-8BEN, please follow the steps below
1. We need you to provide your permanent address if different
from the current mailing address on your Form W-8BEN , you must indicate
if a non-USA resident, your country of origin to support your
non-resident status (if your bank account or other financial dealing has
a USA address for mailing purpose).
2. If any joint account holder are now USA residents or Citizen,
or in any way subject to USA tax reporting laws, Please check the box in
this section.
3. Please have all account holders, sign and date the form
separately and fax it to the above-mentioned number.
Please, complete Form W-8BEN attached" and return to us within 1 (one)
week from the receipt of this letter by faxing it, to enable us update
your records immediately if your account or any other financial benefits
are not rectified in a timely manner, it will be subject to USA tax
reporting and back up withholding (if back up withholding applies, we
are required to withhold 30% of the interest paid to you).
We appreciate your cooperation in helping us protect your exempt status
and also update our records.
Sincerely,
NOTE: Do not reply to this email as any reply will be rejected and will
not be read by a real person. Complete form W-8BEN, and return to us as
soon as possible through the fax number: +1-(717)441-3822 (See attached
file: FORM W-8BEN.doc)
Please read this notice, and other notices regarding IRS related
Internet scams, on the website of the IRS office in London:
http://www.usembassy.org.uk/irs/index.htm.
Sincerely,
American Citizen Services
Embassy of the United States of America
Dag Hammarskjölds Väg 31
SE-115 89 Stockholm
Sweden
Website: http://stockholm.usembassy.gov/consulate/am_cit_index.html |
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