Corporate Compliance Scam Strikes Indiana, Illinois, Texas, Colorado, New York, and More

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

• State officials are warning business owners of a corporate compliance scam in which bogus solicitation letters are being sent out requesting $150 for corporate renewal fees.
• The letters are made to look like official Secretary of State correspondence.
• The perpetrating party goes by “[Insert state name] Corporate Compliance”

These details are from two recent stories out of Indiana and Illinois in which business owners are falling prey to the infamous corporate compliance scam that is obviously a nationwide problem.

And it should sound pretty familiar because we’ve covered similar stories here over the past few months.

There was the Ohio corporate compliance scam, the compliance hoax in Georgia, and similar scams have been reported in Massachusetts and other states across the country. We get at least a couple emails each week from people wondering what to do when they get these letters requesting $150.

Here is what you do: Call the Secretary of State Office in your state and inevitably they will inform you that you are not required to file an “Annual Minutes Disclosure Statement” or anything else that the nefarious letters request along with a $150 fee.

The article about the Illinois corporate compliance scam says that similar scams have been reported in California, Colorado, Florida, Oregon, and Texas. While the Secretary of State and U.S. Postal Service Inspectors Office are conducting a joint investigation, the scam will not stop immediately, so be on the lookout.

Unfortuntely, the article about the Indiana corporate compliance scam reveals that many Indiana business owners have fallen prey and sent in their $150, despite the fact that for-profit businesses are only required to pay $30 bi-annually for registration renewal fees, while it is $10 for non-profits.

“Unfortunately, we know of some business that have paid the money,” said Jim Gavin, communications director for the SOS office. When asked how many have been duped, Gavin said, “It’s in the dozens – that we know of.”

If you are in Illinois, the number to your Secretary of State’s office is 312-814-9509.

In Indiana, the Office of the Secretary of State’s Business Services Division can be contacted at 317-232-6576.

Resources:

Indiana corporate compliance renewal free scam targeting non-profits — (Fort Wayne News Sentinel)

Illinois corporate compliance scam targeting businesses — (Quad-Cities Online)

Texas corporate compliance scam on radar of Texas SOS Phil Wilson — (Texas SOS Office)

Corporate compliance fraud in Georgia, Florida, Massachusetts — (Compliance Building)

Colorado corporate compliance hoax: What a scam — (Dan Moore Blog)

New York corporate compliance scam — (Times Union Blogs)

Tags: corporate compliance scam