Scam Alert: Board of Business Compliance
This may not be of much interest to regular readers, but is being posted so future recipients of this letter may find this article when searching in Google.
I got this in the mail the other day (click to enlarge)
It is laid out to mirror the typical format of a state annual report or business license renewal form. It purports to be from a government-sounding "Board of Business Compliance." The layout and wording is very similar to the California State required annual report form, as is the $125 fee the letter claims is "now due." Only in the really fine print near the bottom right does it admit to being a business solicitation.
Beware. Despite all their efforts to fool you, filling out this form and filing this $125 fee is not required by any government agency. I am not sure if you pay money to this group whether you will actually receive any services (I did not pay). But I will observe that there is absolutely no way that a third party could create a legally meaningful set of minutes for your company based on the information in this form. Remember, though, that it is important for small corporations to keep their minutes in order -- but I am pretty sure this is not the best way to do it.
Business that must be obtained this way is not worth having, at least in my book.
Postscript: One might ask, how can anyone fall for this? The biggest problem is the government itself. Doing business in 12 states, 20 counties, and a number of large municipalities, I get literally a hundred "legitimate" forms like this requiring a $50-$150 filing fee from government institutions all the time. This form, at first, looks more legitimate than say, the application for egg license I get from two states (which are in fact real government requirements).
PPS: Don't even get me started on yellow page vendors, directory listing providers, and companies claiming your URL registration is expiring.
UPDATE: Apparently one of the commenters included contact information at the California AG. The AG's office has written me asking to have comments and concerns about this issue routed to a different address. I think poor Mr. Wayne was deluged with a bunch of complaints. Here is what they sent me as their preferred alternative contact information:
Complaints may be filed with the California Attorney General's Office by mail, telephone, fax, the Internet, or email:MAILING ADDRESS:Attorney General's Office
California Department of Justice
Attn: Public Inquiry Unit
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550TELEPHONE: 1-800-952-5225 (Toll-free in CA) or (916) 322-3360
FAX: (916) 323-5341WEBSITE: http://ag.ca.gov/consumers
EMAIL: piu@doj.ca.gov
