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.