Last week I got a letter from Annual Business Services. It looked like it was sent by the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office regarding official tax-related business. The envelope looked slightly spammy, but mostly legit. Here’s what it looks like:
Hating to receive mail from the government, I opened it immediately to make sure I wasn’t late on something. There was no letter of introduction, no State of Oregon letterhead, no “Sincerely” farewell. What it said at the top of the form was “2014-Annual Minutes Form.” And what it said at the top of the other piece of paper in the envelope was “Instructions for Completing the Annual Minutes Form.” It also said that a payment of $125 was required with the submission of my minutes, which I could pay by check, money order, or by filling out my credit card information.
Pause.
The State of Oregon has never asked me to do that before. And all other things being shady, I went onto the Oregon Secretary of State’s website to double-check the proper procedure for filing shareholder minutes. Guess what I found? Two posts dated July 2014 and May 2014 warning business owners to beware this company that’s masquerading as a State entity. Here’s the post.
If you’ve received this letter, don’t fill it out! I just went to the website, www.annualfilingservice.com, and they’ve shut it down. I had gone before and it was an ugly templated thing.
On the form it said to respond by August 29th, so this post is a little late in coming. Hopefully they haven’t made off with your $125 by now. If they have, report it to the police and/or the Secretary of State’s Office.
I have received this with the filing date to be by Oct.24,
My Husband said he felt this was a scam!
Thanks for the conformation.
We had never been asked to do this in the passed and we do not have share holders anyways
This kind of letter can scare people into giving private info to fraudulent people of no good.
Thanks again
It was definitely a little scary. I’m glad you thought so too and didn’t give them your very personal information. Shame on them for dishonestly trying to extract this information for us.
This company is now scamming in Canada with a url of:
annualbusinessservices.us
Also asking for a cheque or CC – I suggest you ignore or do what I did – wrote to them and suggested they get a real job and add something to the economy.
What a bunch of wasters!
Good to know, M. Thanks for sharing that. Let’s not let them get away with this.
Warnings:
They changed their website:
http://annualbusinessservices.us/
They’re still at it! Thanks for the update, Tony.
I wrote about these people quite some time ago also: http://hamell.net/annual-business-services-scam/
Some of my readers are stating that they’ve hit Washington, Vermont, Arizona, Ohio, and Canada around Toronto.
Keep a heads up everyone! Do not fall for this scam! Also watch out for similar (possibly even the same,) companies telling you to buy “labor safety” posters at $300 each. These are usually free from your local state labor division.
Is this a viable way to make scammy money because so many small business people don’t know their rights or the correct process to file paperwork? It’s definitely un-sexy subject matter, but extremely important to avoid being taken advantage of.
I just received one of these letters from Annual Business Services. I own a sole member LLC in Maryland. I thought it didn’t seem right when I opened it and am now glad I decided to research it online. Its pretty sad that you have to check and see if everything you get is a scam nowadays.
Sounds like this group is going all over the country trying to scam people out of their money. I agree that it’s sad all of us have to be on such high alert to avoid scams. Apparently it’s still an effective way for slimy people to make quick money.
I got hit with one of these in Rhode Island. They’re quite the little scam artists… Thanks for sharing your findings!
From coast to coast. This crew (or person) doesn’t appear to be stopping. Is the website they’re using still http://annualbusinessservices.us/, David?
I guess I received a letter in the Fall but it was misplaced. I just found it and looked them up online and what do you know it is a scam just as I thought. Didn’t even get the business name correct.
Haha! They’re slipping. I’ve never encountered a legitimate State communication that misspelled my business name. Not that they always have perfect spelling and grammar in their letters, but misspelling a business name is definitely a red flag. Good catch, Reba.