Have you recently received some official-looking business paperwork for Form 501-C? After reading through the form, it orders you to submit payment for a service process fee for your business. Don’t be fooled!
Above is an example letter of this scam. It claims that you must fill out the form and send it back with a check for the requested amount to file with the state and avoid penalty fees.
The letter scares the reader into thinking that there are legal ramifications if the notice is ignored. It warns that your business may lose the right to conduct businesses, retain entity name, and there is a penalty amount if not filed on time. The return address is even located in Sacramento, the state’s capitol!
However, upon reading through the letter carefully, it states:
- This product or service has not been approved or endorsed by any governmental agency
- This offer is not being made by an agency of the government
- This is not a bill, this is a solicitation.
- You are under no obligation to pay the amount stated above unless you accept this offer.
The letter looks extremely misleading, so unless you are careful, it is an easy mistake to simply write out a check to pay the fee and include your business information to let this company submit a filing on your behalf.
Statements and filings submitted directly on the government website do not have this service processing fee. The fee to file the statement is $25 for California stock and foreign corporations, and $20 for California nonprofit corporations and all limited liability companies.
When handling business and legal forms, it is always necessary to do your due diligence while reading and filing out sensitive information, especially when payment is involved. The official government and state websites will allow you to file directly with the secretary of state, rather than go through a third party. For more information about this scam, the state of California has an informative page, which you can access here: https://www.sos.ca.gov/business-programs/customer-alerts/misleading-statement-information-solicitations
