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What A Scam: “Colorado Corporate Compliance”

If you are part of a Colorado corporation and get an “Annual Minutes Disclosure Statement” request from Colorado Corporate Compliance, you should read this notice from the Secretary of State’s office:

The Colorado Secretary of State’s office has recently become aware that entities by the names “Colorado Corporate Compliance” and “Board of Business Compliance” have mailed solicitations titled “Annual Minutes Disclosure Statement” or “Disclosure Statement” to many Colorado entities. These solicitations offer to process corporate meeting minutes on behalf of the corporation for a fee. Despite the implications contained in the solicitations, Colorado corporations are not required by law to file corporate minutes with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office.

The warning signs were there: I had not received this notice before, the timeline seemed short (sent on Sep 3, due on Sep 15), and the $150 fee seemed a bit steep. But, if I hadn’t searched for this company, I probably would have sent a check–it looks official. (To be fair, it does, at the bottom of the back of the form, say what the service is actually about–making minutes available to members of a corporation). Just goes to show you that the scammers aren’t just out to protect your domain names or send you virulent spam.
[tags]scam, colorado corporate compliance[/tags]

38 thoughts on “What A Scam: “Colorado Corporate Compliance”

  1. Joesph Young says:

    I work with a lot of folks who have corporations and LLCs. The one thing these business owners neglect the most is observing their corporate formalities, including writing meeting minutes and resolutions. Usually this is because they are either ignorant of the process, intimidated by the whole thing, or just too busy to attend to it. But, they usually know they are negligent, That causes them a lot of stress because they know their corporate veil is in jeopardy if they were to be sued or get a notice of a tax audit.

    That’s why I think people fall for these scams. They hope they are real, because they need the help getting their minutes in food order.

    Small companies, even one-person entities, are entitled to the same tax and legal benefits of the large companies and firms. However, small companies are also held to the same standard of corporate governance as the large companies and firms. They still must observe corporate formalities: hold meetings, adopt resolutions, and record minutes. The best part is, those chores can be systematized without too much effort if you just know how it works – or someone who does. Better to start and maintain a systematic approach to writing resolutions and keeping minutes. Or, to get caught up with them now – before a crises.

  2. LLT says:

    Dan, I just got this today and its a good thing I am a computer junkie. I Googled you and found this to be a scam. It does look so official and I did look it over carefully but it just didn’t feel right. Thanks for posting this.
    LLT

  3. LLT says:

    I meant to say I Googled them, not you. :):)

  4. Laura says:

    The interesting part of the letter is that they never ASK for the Corp. minutes- they just say that ” A copy of the minutes will be returned to your corporate office in a timely manner”. Just whose definition of timely that may fall under is another question…
    We almost fell for this as it appeared to be a notice from the State- but, to the best of my knowledge, the State doesn’t ask for minutes- So, then, I looked in our by-laws, and our incorporation papers to see if anyone, other than a member of the corp., could request these minutes- finding none, I re-read the letter more thoroughly. They never say what they intend to do with these minutes, either. I wonder what havoc could be created for a corporation willing to send their co. minutes to this ‘non-gov’t’ firm….
    It angered me that anyone had that much gumption to ask for our co. minutes- what business is it of theirs?- And then to charge $150!! And $175, if not received by the date on the letter!!
    The heads-up also included a pre-sorted first class U.S.Postage paid in Los Angeles, yet the address on the letter was 303 S. Broadway Suite 300, PMB 376, Denver, Colorado 80209. What business in Colorado pays its pre-sorted first class postage in L.A.?
    The Colorado Secretary of State Office (which deals with corporations in Colorado) address is 1700 Broadway Suite 200 Denver CO 80290
    And reports for Colorado sales tax are sent to this address: State of Colorado, Department of Revenue (1375 Sherman Street Suite B132),Denver, Colorado 80261-0009
    Yes, as a corporation, one has to maintain their minutes, etc., but they are the corporation ‘property’, basically- This company, proposing to do our corporation some ‘service’, states in their letter that “All information disclosed by the addressed corporation listed on the reverse page WILL REMAIN THE PROPERTY OF COLORADO COMPLIANCE CORPORATION….” – Why on earth would a corporation want to GIVE their co. records away??
    Also, what service, exactly, this ‘co’ is offering is not really explained, other than they apparently want the corporation to send this ‘co’ the corporate minutes, especially the annual meeting minutes. What do they plan to DO with the corporate minutes?
    The two things that came to my mind was WHO IS THIS COMPANY?, and WHY do they want us to send them our minutes? After that, I wanted to know exactly what this $150 fee was for….
    After re-reading the form more carefully, we decided the best thing to do with this letter was to NOT RESPOND. Perhaps these letters need to be turned over to the Postmaster General, as they are obviously trying to take advantage of corporation records that rightfully do not belong to them! if it qualifies as a Postal scam, which it very well may, I am sure the matter will be dealt with appropriately.

  5. Don Jewkes says:

    At first this mail looked very official. Like LLT I look briefly at it and realized we have never received this before and after reading the small print that they do not represent any state government agency I called scam!!!
    I googled it and found this page. Thanks
    DJ

  6. LB says:

    Thanks to this web site, I will not respond to this scamer and will complain to appropriate sources to get this scam stopped.Thanks again for the head’s up.

  7. Dr. Jeff says:

    I fwded this site link to the Denver BBB. They’ve been very helpful to me in the past. They are going to be getting complaints re “CCC” very soon, I’m sure.

    Good catch on Laura’s part re LA post mark.

    J

  8. moore says:

    I sent an email to the Secretary of State’s office, and this is the reply I got:

    “Thank you for letting us know that you received the letter as well. If the letter description is like that we have described on our Web site (www.sos.state.co.us), please keep the documents for your records. If they are different, please let us know by faxing them to us.

    Please note that your name, entity name and contact information have been added to a spreadsheet that may be used as a reference in our office as well as the Attorney General’s Office.”

  9. Bonnie Herter says:

    We received letter from Colorado Corporate Compliance, 303 S. Broadway suite 200, PMB 376, Denver, CO 80209. It asked for us to send minutes and charged a $250 fee. The envelope was not prepaid. I lost the letter but still have the envelope. After reading the above I am realizing this may be a scam. Is there a “real” office at the above address? Are we suppose to file minutes with the Colorado Corporate Compliance? Do you have a phone number for this office? I called directory and they could not find any reference for this name. Your help is greatly appreciated

  10. moore says:

    I replied to Bonnie, but in general, if you have questions about minutes requirements, please DO NOT contact me.

    Rather, you should contact a lawyer or the Colorado Department of State, which regulates Colorado corporations.

    Here’s their contact info:
    Voice: 303 894 2200 & press 2
    Fax: 303 869 4864
    sos.business@sos.state.co.us
    Address: 1700 Broadway Suite 200 Denver CO 80290

    Thanks!

  11. Barb says:

    How much money have Colo Corp Compliance collected?

  12. Ethan says:

    Dan, thank you for posting this. Your efforts have saved me and many others from being scammed. Thank you! Thank you!

  13. sondra slappey says:

    Thanks so much for posting this. I was just getting ready to write a check but thought this seemed suspicious and decided to google “Colorado Corporate Compliance.”

  14. Elizabeth Farson says:

    I received a form letter from an office calling themselves Colorado Corporate Compliance, googled it and found it is a fraudulent organization, based on all of the information your site has provided. I intend notifying the Colorado Secretary of State and hope that with all of our efforts we are able to stop this immediately and permanently.

    Thank you so much,

    Elizabeth Farson

  15. Chris Peterson says:

    Thank you Dan and to everyone who posted comments on this site. My law office received this notice also, although I did not ever remember seeing a notice like this before I checked with the owner of the firm and also the attorney in our office who handles the corporate matters, nobody had seen anything like this beofre. Once I read the back of the form and saw the address of 303 S. Broadway Suite 200, PMB 376 I knew there was something strange going on. PMB stands for Prvate Mail Box, if you have a box at a UPS Store or Kinkos you receive your mail at that street address, PMB #, City, State, Zip. I knew there was no way that any government entity would be using a private mail box, maybe a post office box, but definitely not a box at a retail outlet. I am so glad I Googled Colorado Corporate Compliance and found your site!!
    Thank you,
    C. Peterson

  16. jared says:

    I went as far as sending the check and some kind sole wrote stamped it return to sender and wrote “These people are a Fraud” and return to sender. Just gong through the motions not thinking, common mistake for myself.

  17. Anna Anaya says:

    Thank you for this web site. I almost fell for it myself. I didn’t notice the “PMB” or even the disclosure statement at the bootom until I got home and had time to google it. I hope others use their intuition on this and at least call the Secretary of State before they fall for it. The short due dates stuck in my mind over the weekend until I had time to check it out. Thanks again.

    Anna Anaya

  18. Jeff says:

    Is there someone going after these crooks? I thought something was wrong, so I looked on google for a phone number and then saw these comments.

  19. Nancy Guilliams says:

    Glad I found your website with these comments. I didn’t think this should be right after being a CO coporation for 24 1/2 years and never receiving mail like this before. I contacted my former lawyer who is a former Lieutenant Governer and he didn’t think this was kosher either. He suggested contacting the Sec. of State about this.

  20. Anne Peif says:

    Thank you for the info. Wow , I provide bookkeeping services for my clients and had never seen this form before either. I was at first angry at my client for bringing it into my office after its due date. Thanks to you and google we weren’t scammed. They did do a good job making it look official.

  21. Judy Schacher says:

    A big thatnk you. I am so glad I found you when I Googled this. Veiwing all of the comments, you were very helpful to many! I will fax this to the Colorado Sec. of State Office.

  22. Ron Wright says:

    Thank You for your postings and all who have left comments as well. The link at the top of this page to the Colo Sec. State site is very good.
    I did email the State and will wait for their reply. I think the biggest “Red Flag” was that we have never had to submit minutes to the state since our incorporation in 1988…
    I know people fall for this type of “Official Notice”, and it looks real enough to just put it in the Pay folder and send it off…As someone else said it is very pricey for the state to charge that much.
    Guess we can only hope that somehow the can be shut down.
    Just curious..has anyone went to the address of the office of this outfit??
    Thanks

  23. Dean says:

    Thanks for the heads up , I thought it was offical . I thought I had forgot to do something . To just let everyone know it is still going on , Notice date 12-01-08 Due date 12-15-08

  24. Maureen Beyer says:

    Just got my letter today (Dec. 1)
    Thank you for all the information.

  25. Stan Slowik says:

    We just received the notice from the Colorado Corporate Compliance and also sent the e-mail to the Secretary of State’s Office. With all this response over the web why hasn’t anyone made a public comment through either the newspapers or press to alert small businesses across the state about this. Also what is being done to shut these people down???

    We too will wait for a response from the State but something else needs to be done.

    Thanks

  26. Pat Wood says:

    Can’t law enforcement see who is picking up the mail at this Private Mail Box in Denver and arrest them? I just received one of these notices yesterday so they are still trying their scam. Must be getting money if they are still at it.

    Thanks a bunch for this site. The paper sure looks official but we had never received one in our 23 yrs in business before. Decided to check it out and found this site.

    Thanks

  27. Bill says:

    Thanks, we were ready to send the check. I googled Colorado Corporate Compliance and found your site.

  28. Pat Pocius says:

    Unfortunately I didn’t hear about this in time. It felt odd, but I wasn’t sure where I could check to find out if it was legit or not. Now I’m off to the bank to cancel that account and start over. Unfortunately I don’t have a copy of the form that I filled out and I don’t know how much info I gave them. Can anyone tell me here what account numbers or SS# they might have asked for? Thanks,

  29. Lauren says:

    Thank god I looked this up before writing a check. I am a new office manager and almost spent $150 that the office can’t really afford at this time.

    What I noticed as I started to fill out the paperwork is at the bottom in bold it says, “This is a solicitation for the order of goods or services, or both, and not a bill, invoice, or statement of account due.” It goes on and states ” this offer is not being made by an agency of the government.” If I had not read ever inch of this paper I would not have even noticed this.

    However, everyone should watch out because I also recently received a letter like this at my home concerning my mortgage deed. Luckily I asked my realtor about that one and she informed me it was a scam.

  30. Brian B says:

    Great little scam these folks are trying to pull. I have an idea for a way to cause them financial harm and have some fun at the same time.

    If everybody that has any blank check stock for an old “closed” bank account we could, at the cost of a stamp, all send them bogus payments. They would deposit these bad checks and as each one bounces due to the “Account Closed” status, these fine folks would get dinged by their bank for perhaps $25 for each NSF deposit item. Maybe we can harm them with their own game.

    To add further insult, if you put insufficient postage on the return envelope, the post office will hit them up for the shortage.

    Go get’em!!!!

  31. Renee McMillen says:

    Goggled the CCC and saw your Notice, glad I did. Tore up their form and now getting to those minutes!

  32. Barb says:

    I got my letter and thought it did not look right. I went to google and put in Colorado Corporate Compliance’s name and found this site. After reading what everyone had to say I got a chuckle out of Brain B and what his idea was. I might have to send a blank check stock from a closed bank account. Karma is a good thing!

  33. PHIL K says:

    I received the same notice and it looked very official but the fee seemed high in comparison to other Secretary of State annual fees. When I noted the address being South Broadway, not the Secretary of State’s office, I decided to do a Google on their name. Thanks for others who preceded me and called it as it is:A SCAM!!!!!!

    THANKS GUYS!

    PHIL

  34. Sheila Maury says:

    Thanks for posting this information. I thought that the letter looked official and was ready to send a check but decided to Google this first.

  35. Dennis L. Burgner, DDS says:

    I was filling out this bogus form, and planning to head to the Stapleton Post Office (so I wouldn’t be late) today, one day before their “deadline”. Then several things didn’t quite add up:

    1. Never been required to do this before.
    2. The exhorbitant fee.
    3. Bold-print at bottom of form – i.e. “Not a bill or invoice…..this is a solicitation fo rthe order of goods of services, or both…..”, etc.
    4. Return envelope stated: “T

  36. Jane says:

    December 17, 2008

    Thank you Dan,

    No shortage of scammers out there.

    Jane

  37. Gotalia Test and Automation says:

    Well, this scam is continuing on into 2012.

    Why hasn’t our attorney general forced this as a fraud!

  38. Jake Cox says:

    July 12, 2013

    Just received one from “Compliance Services” 2316 Rimrock Ave. Ste 400

    Postal Mailbox 308

    Grand Junction CO 81506-8667.

    If you check out the address you will find it is a UPS store that provides mail forwarding services.

    I received the same letter last year!

     

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