HA! They almost got me! I had a $150.00 USD check ready made out to “Corporate Complianceâ€. The envelope was wet with my spit and just about to be sealed until I read the print in bold at the bottom:
Requirement code 3001. This is a Solicitation for the order of goods or services, or both, and not a bill, invoice, or statement of account due. You are under no obligation to make any payment on account of the offer unless you accept the offer. Requirement B&P Code 17533.6This Product or service has not been approved or endorsed by any government agency, and this offer is not being made by an agency of the government..
Translation: You don’t HAVE to send us money.. we are not affiliated with the government.. we just want your money.. our service is that we are asking for money. *SCAM*
Annually, I have to file documents to keep my corporation compliant with state & federal law. Although I know this is something that can be done online with my state (Colorado), I usually procrastinate until I completely forget about it. So it is convenient to get the occasional mail reminding me to file. The state usually send a post card with a reminder and a link to their .gov site. The “Office of Corporate Compliance” sends a message telling you the importance of filing your “Annual Corporate Minutes”. They offer to do it for $175 (check or money order). The only problem is that states don’t require minutes filed with them. You are supposed to keep minutes, and other corporate records.. but they are not submitted anywhere. My state requires a re-statement of my Articles of Incorporation (annually over the ‘Net).
I’ll hand it to them, “Office of Corporate Compliance†seal looks authentic at the glance. Once I found out that this was indeed a scam, I realized that they could be doing this in EVERY single state and making a small fortune. If you Google it, you’ll see that they really are doing it all over the nation. They’ve probably been doing it for years.
My question is, how and why has this been allowed to flourish. Each state puts out some sort of can response about it:
Recently, an entity calling itself “[STATE] Corporate Compliance†mailed solicitations entitled “Annual Corporate Minutes Compliance Filing†to numerous [state] corporations. This solicitation offers to complete corporate meeting minutes on behalf of the corporation for a fee. Despite the implications contained in the solicitation, [state] corporations are not required by law to file corporate minutes with the Secretary of State.
Why can’t the state governments come down on this 50 state scam? Perhaps “Corporate Compliance” wording is such that there is nothing the states or any other government can do ANYTHING about.
Heres how I think their scam works:
1) They set up a P.O. Box in each state with corresponding state header on envelops and letters.
2) Search each states corporate data base for corporations with the status (delinquent or non-compliant.. this means the corp. in question did not restate their annual articles of incorporation.)
3) They send the appropriate state letter to the delinquent corporations
4) The corporation pays and send to the P.O. Box that is already typed on the self addressed envelop inside
5) The P.O. Box forwards to the real address of the creators of this system (or franchisers)
Reverse PO Box Lookup
US Post offices will disclose the forwarding location of corporate entities PO Box. So I think I will do one and advertise them right here on this site. I think that there is only one company (or group) behind this mail fraud.
Who is Corporate Compliance Filings, Inc?
I did a Google search for the company and came up with only one organization named Corporate Compliance, the name The Office of Corporate Compliance asked to be put on the checks. The only way they can cash the check is to have an actual corporate entity. Here it is: http://www.corporatecompliance.com/ –> Although there should be a crime against having a terribly shitty 90’s site, I can’t yet pin the scam to these guys… I simply don’t have any evidence at all pointing to this particular site.
When I did a search on the New York business database (where this 90’s Internet Corporate Compliance is from) I noticed that their were two entities with that name: CORPORATE COMPLIANCE FILINGS INC. (foreign entity) & CORPORATE COMPLIANCE LTD (domestic). But then I noticed that Corporate Compliance Filings Inc. is also in the California business database, Colorado business database and all the others.. each one does not list other entities or foreign entity as the registered agents in an attempt to avoiding naming individuals.
If you search the databases you’ll see that they use: CORPORATE COMPLIANCE FILINGS INC., Corporation Compliance Recorder, CORPORATE COMPLIANCE CENTER
Colorado Corporate Compliance
The Colorado Secretary of State’s office has recently become aware that an additional entity, “California Corporate Servicesâ€, has mailed solicitations titled “Annual Minutes Disclosure Statement†to businesses in Colorado. These solicitations are similar to those mailed to businesses by “Colorado Corporate Compliance†and “Board of Business Compliance” titled “Annual Minutes Disclosure Statement†or “Disclosure Statement”. These solicitations offer to process corporate meeting minutes on behalf of the corporation for a fee. Despite the implications contained in the solicitations, Colorado corporations are not required by law to file corporate minutes with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.
California Corporate Compliance
In very fine print, the document usually has a disclaimer, such as:
“CA Business & Professions Code Sec 17533.6 This service has
not been approved or endorsed by any government agency, and
this offer is not being made by an agency of the government.â€
California Corporate Headquarters, Compliance Division
California Addresses:
CALIFORNIA CORPORATE COMPLIANCE
Business Division
3053 Freeport Blvd #310
Sascramento, CA 94518
State Corporate Compliance
916 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95814-2703
form was 4780C
Corporate Compliance Filings
9175 Keifer Blvd # 336
Sacramento, CA 95826
California Corporate Headquarters
Compliance Division
2443 Fair Oaks Boulevard #539
Sacramento, CA 95825
CA-FORM AMDS-03
Massachusetts Corporate Compliance
Recently, an entity calling itself “Massachusetts Corporate Compliance†mailed solicitations entitled “Annual Corporate Minutes Compliance Filing†to numerous Massachusetts corporations. This solicitation offers to complete corporate meeting minutes on behalf of the corporation for a fee. Despite the implications contained in the solicitation, Massachusetts corporations are not required by law to file corporate minutes with the Secretary of State.
Georgia Corporate Compliance
Secretary of State Handel Alerts Corporations to Potential Scam
Atlanta, GA—Recently, an entity calling itself “Georgia Corporate Compliance†mailed solicitations entitled “Annual Minutes Disclosure Statement†to numerous Georgia corporations. This solicitation offers to complete corporate meeting minutes on behalf of the Georgia corporation for a fee. Despite the implications contained in the solicitation, Georgia corporations are not required by law to file corporate minutes with the Secretary of State.
New York Corporate Compliance
Texas Corporate Compliance
Recently, an entity calling itself “State Corporate Compliance†mailed solicitations entitled “Annual Corporate Minutes Compliance Filing†to numerous Texas business entities. This solicitation offers to complete corporate meeting minutes on behalf of the Texas business entities for a fee. Despite the implications contained in the solicitation, Texas business entities are not required by law to file corporate minutes with the Secretary of State.
Oregon Corporate Compliance
Better Business Bureau takes a look at Corporate Compliance