A business acquaintance started a company last year and received an official-looking “Annual Minutes Disclosure Statement.” The two-page document cited various California corporation code sections and demanded payment of an Annual Fee of $125. (This is not a flagrant con, since the fine print at the bottom admits “This product or service has not been approved or endorsed by any government agency”.) The fee is set low enough so that it’s not worth asking one’s lawyer or accountant to look into the matter, and many small business owners will just pay the bill.
But the Internet is also such an outstanding research tool for the good guys that there’s often no need to call on a specialist. In less than 30 seconds I was able to pull up an advisory from the law firm of Morrison & Foerster:
Please be aware that many companies have recently been receiving fake forms that appear, on their face, to be the mandatory disclosure forms sent out by the California Secretary of State. In fact, they are thinly veiled business solicitations….
In the event that your company receives such a business solicitation, please forward it (including the envelope and all of its contents) to:
Susie Lorden, Associate Governmental Program Analyst
California Department of Justice/Office of the Attorney General
Consumer Law Section
110 West A Street, Suite 1100
San Diego, CA 92101
We’ll do our civic duty and forward the materials to the Attorney General’s office. I also take the time to forward phishing e-mails immediately to the relevant companies and authorities. In a decentralized world everyone must do his part to police the neighborhood.
[Update - October, 2009: the name and letterhead may change slightly, but it's still the same con.]
4 comments:
Oh man. I can't believe it, but I just got scammed!
We paid this bill about six months ago ... and a second one came today prompting me to do some research. I found your post a little too late, so I'm out $150. DOH!
Great info though. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you very much for your information ! It is very useful - we have just received "'Annual Minutes Disclosure' worth $ 175.00 !
Thanks again for warning
I received a similar notice and called the phone number 1-888-325-1414
The girl who answered the phone was a call center who just read me a description of the company over the phone. She had no idea of who they were but took my phone number and said they would call back.
I doubt it.
On another forum some lawyer is putting together a class action lawsuit. Don't know anything about it at all other than the information he gave. His email
cramey@rameylawfirm.com
This is pretty typical of business practices in this country. After Enron and AIG the best advice is...if you are dealing with a business LET THE BUYER BEWARE!!!
I recently formed a CA corporation, and received a similar form. I also received something from the Corporate Filing Unit (916-520-3718). Both forms look like scams.
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