Con men are trying to trick Bermuda residents into divulging information on personal assets and identity.

The scam involves sending out letters in official looking US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) envelopes and letterhead.

The letters ask for additional information on such matters as asset holdings, US income sources, personal family data, passport information, request for a W-8BEN.

Tax scams and phishing attempts to obtain personal information from offshore residents who have US property are appearing again in Bermuda.

The message conveyed in the letters is intimidating and invasive, stating that in order to qualify for exemption from withholding on bank accounts and other financial dealings: ?You must provide the following information to a Mrs. Helen Moore, Director of Information.?

The notice further states if the information requested is not returned within one week of receipt, backup withholding will apply and residents will be subject to tax reporting.

Information requested on the phoney W-8BEN is lengthy and specific: information on the recipient?s spouse, children and parents, date of birth, pace of birth, nationality, social security number, PIN number, mother?s maiden name, copy of passport and number. Also country of permanent residence, bank name, address and branch, account number, type and date opened, e-mail address, profession, day-time phone number and how often the recipient visits the US.

In reality, these are fictitious letters attempting to blatantly scam personal assets and identity. According to US Internal Revenue Service, identity thieves use someone?s personal data to steal his or her financial accounts, run up charges on the victim?s existing credit cards, apply for new loans, credit cards, services or benefits in the victim?s name and even file fraudulent tax returns.

These are serious issues for those residents located offshore.

While the owner of US property interests living here (who hopefully is never the victim of a scam) would certainly be alerted relatively quickly if their US bank account was emptied, it may never even occur to them to check their US credit history or to know that a tax return had been filed under false pretences using their name and Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).

The legitimate IRS Form W-8BEN only asks for non-resident alien?s name, legal address and foreign status and can be found on the IRS website in the ?Forms and Publications? section.

It does not request any of the personal information above, except, in some cases, for a Social Security or IRS-generated Taxpayer Identification Number.

In addition, genuine Forms W-8BEN are sent to the recipients by their financial institution, not by United States Internal Revenue Service. The financial institution, whether bank, brokerage firm, insurance company or other, acts as the non-resident alien?s withholding agent for any income subject to US income tax that the foreign person received from a US source.

On the US Internal Revenue Service website www.irs.gov there is a specific section on tax scams and fraudulent schemes targeting non-resident aliens who have income from a United States source.