California Forms Scam

We first wrote about form scams 15 years ago. The grifters are still at it, evidenced by the "501-LLC, Declaration of Members and Managers" (not a real California form) I got in yesterday's mail. As I wrote back then

Limited Liability Companies that are operated by harried small-business folk provide especially fertile ground for the scam artists.

A plumber or painter can't be expected to know every form that needs to be filed by his LLC, consulting with his accountant and lawyer costs money, and they may well say that he needs to pay the fee anyway,

The form scam is sufficiently widespread that California has devoted a web page to it:

Certain business entities have reported receiving misleading solicitations like this sample (PDF) urging the business to submit an order form and processing fee to a third party to file a Statement of Information on their behalf with the California Secretary of State or suffer penalties, fines, suspension or seizure.

The "501-LLC" I received demands a payment of $243 for filing the same information required by California Form LLC-12. The latter is a biennial Statement of Information for LLCs that takes less than five minutes to complete online. The fee is $20.