The aged, infirm, and mentally impaired are vulnerable to fraudsters, but we often don’t think about how experienced businesspeople can be taken in. Entrepreneurs are too busy running their operations to spend time validating invoices for a couple of hundred dollars, so they’ll often pay these bills without question. The amounts are set low enough so it’s not worth a call to their accountant or lawyer, and the threatened penalties for failure to comply, i.e. fines and hassles with government agencies, are painful.Last year we dealt with the Annual Minutes Disclosure scam. This year the Annual Review Board tried to put its hand in our pocket for $228. On the off-chance that the bill was legitimate, I sent an inquiry to the Attorney General’s office. Below is the reply from Ms. Susie Lorden:
Thank you for writing. Annual Review Board is not a government entity: it is a private company soliciting your business. I am glad you are such an alert business owner. Many companies are sending similar solicitations, so continue to make sure you read the fine print on all mail you receive. Our office has filed suit and obtained injunctions against several of these businesses.I’m mailing the documents to the AG's office today. I can’t do anything about the billions lost by hardworking people in the past year, but $228….that I understand. © 2009 Stephen Yuen
I suggest you file a complaint with both our office and the United States Postal Inspection Service, which is also investigating these solicitations. https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/contactUs/filecomplaint.aspx
To file a complaint with our office, please send the original mailer, including the outer envelope in which it was mailed, to:
California Attorney General's Office
Attn: Public Inquiry Unit
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
1-800-952-5225
You will likely receive more solicitations like this in the future. Please continue to send us the ones you receive. It helps us keep track of what is being mailed. Again, thank you for your time and assistance.
Sincerely, Susie Lorden
4 comments:
I fell victim to these scammers. I had just recently filed as an LLC.
I was doing the monthly bills on a Friday night and leaving for a two-week trip in the morning.
I thought all my fees had been paid and was suspicious of this new fee.
But, it was the weekend so I couldn't call the state of CA and the official-looking letter said there would be penalties if the fee wasn't paid by the end of the month - I would not be back from my trip until after this date.
So, the perfect set of conditions and now I am out $228.
The people that run this scam should be drawn and quartered. Simply unbelievable that they have not been shut down.
What a scam preying on the Heartbeat of America and trying to cash in.
I with you completely agree.
I loved your blog. Thank you.
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