Annual Report Scams Reported By Clients (October 2006)

About Us > Press Room > Annual Report Scams Reported By Clients (October 2006)

CorpDirect Agents has become aware of forms being sent to the principals of registered business entities that appear to be official state forms regarding corporate compliance requirements or annual reports being delinquent, but in fact, are not. We have taken some time to look into this issue and felt a notice to our clients in this regard was warranted. During our research, we found that such forms are circulating for many states.

Many of our Florida registered agent clients have received a form titled Annual Minutes Compliance Notice that is not an official Florida form. It even has a fancy, official looking seal. Florida clients have also received notices titled Company Registration which can confuse a client into thinking it is a form required by Florida, when it is not. We have had California registered entity clients report receiving notices called Annual Minutes Disclosure Statement that do not originate from the California Secretary of State but rather a private company. We have Nevada clients who have received what appears to be official delinquent annual list notices but they are not from the Nevada Secretary of State, Commercial Recordings Division. These appear to be scams or misleading marketing attempts to trick clients into paying for services that may not even exist, paying for a service to prepare minutes or changing their registered agent to another company. The similarities between all of these misleading notices are that they use agency sounding names, corporate seals or logos very similar to those of an agency and many reference what appear to be statutues or cites.

Please be aware that these are not official notices from the state and appear to be solicitations. In our opinion, these companies are "tricking" businesses into using their service by suggesting that a business entity will be in danger of default or losing their liability protection if the provided forms are not returned with fees within a specified timeframe. Many of these confusing forms contain disclaimers indicating that they are not from government agencies, however these disclaimers are not always readily recognizable as they are not in large print or otherwise obvious. Do not confuse these forms with the annual or periodic reports you would receive directly from a Secretary of State or from our offices. Please carefully review any forms that come into your office prior to your submittal.

If you have received a notice and are not sure of its validity, feel free to contact us at 800-388-2123 or by e-mail at info@corpdirect.com to discuss it.