There has been a recent increase in scammers coming from nearly every direction. Most commonly, new business owners, especially owners of LLCs, are receiving official-looking notices or invoices after forming their new entity.

Here are the most common scams and what you need to know!

• Appearing Official – Although the letters may look and seem official or quasi-governmental, they are not. Scammers try their best to make the letter as convincing as possible, but do not be fooled.
• Labor Posters – The letters claim to provide labor law posters for an unnecessary fee, but the Department of Labor and Industry website provides free labor law/workplace posters. You can print them yourself or have them shipped to your business.
• Certificate of Good Standing – Some letters claim to provide a copy of your business’s Certificate of Status for a fee. But the Secretary of State’s website offers a much lower cost of $5 for mail and in-person orders and $15 for online orders.
• Annual Renewal – Letters claiming to submit your business’s Annual Renewal with the state for a fee should be disregarded because you can do so for free on the Secretary of State’s website.
• Confidential Information – Requests for confidential information to update your business’s information or apply for a “state benefit” should be reported! Any confidential information related to your business, including officer names and addresses, bank account information, etc., should not be disclosed to anyone over the phone or in a letter.

When in doubt, do not respond. Contact us to verify that the fee or information request is valid.