The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service’s Financial Crimes Unit detectives have received a number of reports of businesses receiving faxes from a company claiming to be the US Internal Revenue Service.
The fax claims the IRS requires personal and professional information to ensure that the recipient remains exempt from paying United States of America taxes.
Enquiries to the IRS have proved that this is a scam designed to obtain details such as bank account numbers, mother’s maiden names and passport numbers. The IRS stresses that the genuine IRS Form W-8 BEN does not ask for any personal information, except for a Social Security or IRS-generated Taxpayer Identification Number in certain cases.
In addition, genuine W-8 BEN forms are sent to recipients by their financial institution, not by the IRS directly.
Anyone receiving this type of unsolicited communication is asked to discard it immediately.
Detectives are investigating a number of reports relating to email scams.
One of the most common sees the victim informed that they have won money or goods in a competition or lottery they have never entered. The scammers request that cash be sent for administration fees or to release the prize. Once the money is sent, the victim will never hear from the scammers again.
The most recent reports relate to an Australian Lottery in association with Euro Millions & UK National Lottery. All emails or letters detailing wins of such like should be ignored.
Other types of scams to look out for include:
*Request to use a bank account to deposit a large sum of money:
The victim is asked to allow an account to be used to deposit a large sum of money. Initial contact is generally made by mass email and the victim is asked to keep all details of the transaction secret.
The money offered is often from a secret account, unexpected inheritance, over-paid government contract or ‘forgotten money’ left in an African account.
There are often fees or taxes requested to be paid by the victim before the money is deposited. Once these fees are paid the money will never appear.
*Business opportunity
A business may receive communication from someone proposing to be a public official offering an opportunity to be involved in a large commercial opportunity. The offer will involve large financial returns and will require the victim to finance a portion of the contract up front.
The cash will be requested via money transfer agencies such as Western Union and will be for tasks such as legal fees, registration costs, project fees etc. Once the money is sent, the victim will hear no more about the business opportunity.
If you receive an email, fax or letter that you are concerned about, you are urged to be very cautious.
One way of checking is to do an Internet search on the names of the organisations or corporations involved and you are likely to find the latest warnings and advisories on them.
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