Can you spot the scam?

I got some excellent scam mail this month! I actually get this one every year. When your business is due for renewal that’s public record. There’s a company that reviews these lists and reaches out to capitalize on this opportunity to scam you. We’ve marked up an example of the scam.

The entity “W.C.S.” ("Workplace Compliance Services") has been sending these notices to business owners through snail mail. They offer to pay your annual business registration fee for you. They propose that you pay them the $100 registration fee plus a $95 processing fee.

In actuality, you can easily file your annual business registration and pay the $100 fee online through the Secretary of State website here. For more information on misleading notices, click here.

The main reason this notice is so convincing is because it appears to be an official government form from the Secretary of State. If you look closely at the form above, however, you’ll notice the following red flags:

• No Secretary of State Seal: all SoS forms have this emblem at the top lefthand side of the page

• No affiliation: if you read the fine print, W.C.S. mentions that they do not have a contract with any governmental agency, including the Secretary of State, and this service is therefore not sanctioned by any governmental agency

• Not an invoice: again, in the fine print, W.C.S. declares that this is not an invoice, and no payment is due to W.C.S.

As always, please be sure to let us know if you have any questions.