Secretary of State: Businesses should be aware of annual report scam
COURTESY / Maine Secretary of State's Office
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is warning corporations and nonprofits they should look out for misleading materials in the mail.
Maine corporations and nonprofits are being warned to watch out for a mailed solicitation that offers to file a state report for a $195 fee.
According to the office of Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, the information is mailed by an organization identified as C.F.S. and looks similar to the Maine Secretary of State's Division of Corporations' annual report form. It is neither authorized nor recognized by the Maine Secretary of State, and the mailing does not originate with the Division of Corporations.
"Scammers like these are trying to make a quick buck by scaring people into thinking they need assistance to enter the same pieces of information on this paper form that they could just wait a couple of months to do for themselves online," said Bellows. "I know small business owners and nonprofit directors are just trying to do the right thing, but they should be wary of any solicitation that includes the common tactic of urgent action for something they've always done themselves without paying another entity an unnecessary extra hundred dollars."
The Division of Corporations does not mail out the annual report form; it can be found online here. The 2023 annual report will be available January 2023.
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