Annual Minutes Requirement Scam
Tags: bad thing, business, scam March 7th. 2009, 8:30pmHere’s a little tip for Florida Business owners, but maybe restricted to S-Corp owners. If you get a document in the mail called: “Annual Minutes Requirement Statement Directors and Shareholders”, do not pay it, this is a scam. The Florida Department of State has now posted a warning about this on its front-page as well.
While this document might look very authentic, in the small print it states:
This product has not been approved or endorsed by any government agency and this offer is not being made by an agency of the government.
Needless to say, you should never send shareholder information to any non-government organization. And your actual annual meeting information should only be addressed to a government organization or posted at SunBiz.org.
The letter that I originally received had the following return address:
COMPLIANCE SERVICES
400 Capital Cir SE, Ste 18321
Tallahassee, FL 32301
Edit:
Thanks to all of the people who have posted a comment, here’s a list of all the street address instances used by this scammer so far, there were more instances reported below in the comment section without addresses. Also, if you happen to have more information or an address that’s not listed, please post it below, it will most certainly help many people.
- California
P.O. Box 1265
Studio City, CA 91614-0265 - Florida
400 Capital Cir SE, Ste 18321
Tallahassee, FL 32301 - Georgia (1)
931 Monroe Drive NE, STE A-102 #333
Atlanta, GA 30308-1795 - Georgia (2)
Annual Minutes Disclosure Services/Business Processing Division
5805 State Bridge Road
Duluth GA 30094
Phone 866-390-1176 - Georgia (3)
Annual Minutes Disclosure Services
5805 State Bridge Road Ste. G–380
Duluth, GA 30097 - Massachusetts
Compliance Services
71 Commercial St. #241
Boston, MA 02109 - New York
Annual Minutes Disclosure Services / Business Processing Division
911 Central Avenue #134
Albany, NY 12206 - North Carolina
324 S. Wilmington St.
Postal Mail Box 407
Raleigh, NC 27601
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March 20th, 2009 at 2:28 PM
I also received this scam and the S-Corp I work for is based in California. The return address on mine was:
COMPLIANCE SERVICES
P.O. Box 1265
Studio City, CA 91614-0265
March 28th, 2009 at 4:42 PM
I received this in Georgia also for an S-Corp. Address:
Compliance Services
931 Monroe Drive NE, STE A-102 #333
Atlanta, GA 30308-1795
April 6th, 2009 at 1:48 PM
I receive the same for GA.The same address mentioned.I checked the deadline & if were to send in the check,6th April was the deadline.So I decided to call before I mailed the check along with the form & I was told to ignore that by the representative for the Secretary state office of GA.
June 11th, 2009 at 2:52 PM
I received it here in GA with an address in Macon, GA. They sure branch out, huh?
June 19th, 2009 at 10:01 AM
I also received it in FL. Almost sent a check to them. The address was:
Compliance Services
400 Capital Cir SE
Postal Mail Box 18321
Tallahasse, FL 32301
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:55 AM
I also received in the mail florida,
400 Capital Cir SE Tallahasse. P.O.Box 18321
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:24 PM
I work for a C-corp in Ohio, and I received one from Florida – the same address as above. Not sure how they got ahold of me up in Ohio, but I smelled scam right away. This one is trickier than the one I received from Ohio, which actually had a disclaimer on it.
June 26th, 2009 at 1:27 PM
I’m a CPA, and one of our clients received this letter. It looks very genuine. I only found out that it was a scam by looking it up on the internet, and I found this posting.
June 26th, 2009 at 11:42 PM
I received one also. Address is the PO Box 18321 in Tallahassee. I’m so glad I looked it up before I decided to pay it! How can they get away with this type of nonsense??
July 1st, 2009 at 8:17 PM
It has also shown up in North Carolina.
324 S. Wilmington St.
Postal Mail Box 407
Raleigh, NC 27601
Don’t understand how a scam as wide spread as this one can’t be prosecuted by someone. Crazy.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 PM
I too received this letter with the same address for Fl. Can these people be reported to someone. I wonder how many unfortunate soles sent money and info to this company? What exactly do they do with your info. They can go to sunbiz.org and get your info for Florida. Seems like this should be illegal.
July 6th, 2009 at 3:27 PM
I also received the document for a New York S-Corp. So glad I found this information online! Thanks to all…. The address for the NY scam is:
Annual Minutes Disclosure Services / Business Processing Division
911 Central Avenue #134
Albany, NY 12206
July 7th, 2009 at 8:19 AM
I recieved this as well for NC. Glad I checked it out.
July 7th, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Received one in Florida. I had my checkbook in hand. I looked it up to see what I was paying-glad I did!
July 7th, 2009 at 11:31 AM
I work for a C-corp in MN. I’ve received forms for MA, IN and now NC. The IN Secretary of State have information on their website concerning a complaint they filed.
July 21st, 2009 at 11:58 AM
I received the same letter in Raleigh, NC. I was worried I was late on the payment, tried to find the phone number to explain and could not, that’s when I googled the name of the company and address and found this site. Thank you for having such a site, otherwise my company may have been out $125.00!
July 29th, 2009 at 1:22 AM
THANK YOU for posting this! The letter I got was for North Carolina and looked VERY authentic! It was only because of this website that I found the “wording” that I needed to read to know it wasn’t real!
August 5th, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Thanks for the information. I avoided this scam when I found your blog entry.
August 10th, 2009 at 8:01 AM
I have also received this scam. The total is for $ 150.00 and the return address is
Annual Minutes Disclosure Services/Business Processing Division
5805 State Bridge Road
Duluth GA 30094
Phone # 866-390-1176
August 13th, 2009 at 11:41 AM
My company is a Florida S-corp, and we just received one of these notices today. Something seemed to be a bit amiss…so, I got online and found this forum – thanks.
By the way, is anything being done to shut these people down?
August 13th, 2009 at 10:35 PM
I recived one of these notices an im glad i found this out befor i payed it this sucks. Work in florida is bad enough an very hard to find but these people are really taking it to a hole new place. I hope they are found an locked away for as long as possible.
August 14th, 2009 at 12:04 PM
Thankyou for this blog!
I received the Florida version with the address listed as above.
I checked this against submission “requirement” at SunBiz.org and could find no substantiation. I had also noted the non-endorsement statement on the form so I googled and found this blog.
Does anyone know which law enforcement authority would investigate this, and whether it been reported yet?
I would suggest FBI, as it is clearly a multi-state problem.
August 16th, 2009 at 7:02 PM
I RECIVED THIS SAME THING WARNING IF YOU CAN NOT FIND A GOVERMRNT FORM ONLINE. OR THE RETURN ENVELOPE DOES NOT HAVE AN ADDRESS WINDOW DISREGUARD IT!!
August 18th, 2009 at 11:22 AM
we received it also from NC and i emailed our corp attny and he said it is a SCAMMMMMM do not send any info-WHEW-it did look real but the front of the green envelope said it was not a gov document so that is what made me stop and question!
August 24th, 2009 at 9:14 AM
I received one of these letters from Florida client, after looking at it I googled this site. Thanx for the info, will forward to all corporate clients.
August 26th, 2009 at 10:26 AM
NEW SCAM ADDRESS: I received the letter & form in March, 09. Didn’t pay it because I was suspicious of it- it was pinned up on my corkboard for MONTHS before I had a chance to investigate it today (Aug 26) I just filled out and wrote the check, glad I found this site before putting the payment in the mail! Here’s a new Massachusetts address: Compliance Services, 71 Commercial St. #241, Boston, MA 02109. Hope this helps someone out there! Lisa
August 26th, 2009 at 10:42 AM
follow up from Lisa F in MA: I called my Martha Coakley’s office (MA Attourney General) and the officials there confirmed that they are already aware of this scam, and confirmed the address in my previous post is a scam address.
September 1st, 2009 at 4:22 AM
NEW SCAM ADDRESS: I received the letter & form in March, 09. Didn't pay it because I was suspicious of it- it was pinned up on my corkboard for MONTHS before I had a chance to investigate it today (Aug 26) I just filled out and wrote the check, glad I found this site before putting the payment in the mail! Here's a new Massachusetts address: Compliance Services, 71 Commercial St. #241, Boston, MA 02109. Hope this helps someone out there! Lisa;. All the best!!
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:38 PM
Hmmmmm…i’m living in Georgia and i got same letter but the adress is different then all others that are posted on this website. mine is:
ANNUAL MINUTES DISCLOSURE SERVICES
5805 STATE BRIDGE ROAD STE G – 380
DULUTH, GA 30097
it looks same as others but the zip code is different and right next to the “5805 STATE BRIDGE ROAD”, there is”STE G – 380″.
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:13 AM
thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this blog. my partner almost sent in a check.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:20 PM
Thank you so much. Unbelieveable! How do these people sleep at night! Why not get a real job like the rest of us??? Unfortunately I suspect a huge amount of people have just gone ahead and paid this… I was suspicious and found this as the fist google hit. Great work everyone. I had same FL address. Would have to be a class action case here. I’m in…
October 1st, 2009 at 4:58 PM
Must be that time of year…..just got my annual scam letter. I find it hard to believe that the government does not stop this and file fraud charges. Unless you really read through the info, it’s hard to tell that it’s not, in fact, a government form. Like we don’t have enough to keep track of in the running of a business?
The return envelope had the Capital Cir SE, Tallahassee address.
It’s shameful.
October 14th, 2009 at 1:37 PM
I just received the “Annual Minutes Requirement Statement For Directors And Shareholders”..and I am sooo glad that I researched it before making the $125.00 payment to “Compliance Services”. My letter was also mailed to our business in Florida from the following address: Compliance Services 400 Capital Cir SE, Postal Mail Box 18321,Tallahassee,Fl 32301….I can’t believe this is going on- what a SCAM!!!- I’ll make sure to pass the word to my business owner friends.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:13 PM
I received the same mail with address on
400 Capital Cir. Se
Postal Mail Box 18321
Tallahasse, Fl 32301
They should be in Jail.
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:11 PM
I received the same scam offer on 3/3/2010 with the same address:
400 Capital Cir SE
Postal Mail Box 18321
Tallahasse, Fl 32301
Unbelievable, it’s been a year and they are still scamming businesses. I know for sure, eventually somebody will take care of them.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:57 AM
I just got one in mail yesterday and I also received one about this time last year. Because it requires a stamp to mail back to them, put their crap back in the envelope,put their address on the return and send it back!
March 8th, 2010 at 10:30 AM
Thanks, these guys almost got me. I’m glad my partner googled it.
March 9th, 2010 at 12:25 AM
I also received a request to complete the annual minutes requirement statement and a request for $125.00 to be submitted to Compliance Services, 400 Capital Cir SE, Postal Mail Box 18321, Tallahassee FL 32301.
March 9th, 2010 at 9:43 AM
I live in Florida and received the same. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE INFORMATION. I ALMOST SENT THE MONEY.
March 9th, 2010 at 10:45 AM
Very clever scam. I was impressed–almost got me. Fortunately these words caught my eye: “THIS PRODUCT HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED OR ENDORSED BY ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY AND THIS OFFER IS NOT BEING MADE BY AN AGENCY OF THE GOVERNMENT.” What? Well, then I won’t send them any money. Ever.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:57 PM
Thanks so much folks, I just received one of these in CA for my S-Corp, seemed a bit fishy so I googled the address (Compliance Services, PO Box 1265, Studio City, CA 91614-0265) and came across this. Saves me from getting suckered out of 125$, woot!
March 10th, 2010 at 6:39 PM
Well, it sure pays to read the fine print, doesn’t it? (I received the one from the Studio City address. This goes on the scam hierarchy just under the Nigerian five-million-dollar scam. Jeez.
March 11th, 2010 at 12:55 AM
Excellent blog
I almost sent the check too… thanks guys for sharing the info..
Edwin ..
From Florida