Consumer alert!

Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Director Steve Arwood is warning Michigan corporations of a non-governmental entity called “Corporate Records Service” trying to collect a $125 fee to prepare corporate meeting minutes.
Their misleading pitch implies that Michigan requires corporations and limited liability companies to complete an Annual Minutes Form and is designed to look like an official document, but it is not.
“Michigan corporations are not required by law to file annual meeting minutes with LARA’s Corporations Division,” said Mr. Arwood. “Our corporation customers should disregard these deceptive notices as they are not from the State of Michigan.”
Michigan businesses are receiving an official-looking form called the “2013 Annual Minutes Form.” The form implies that the recipient is obligated to complete and return it with a fee payment for the preparation of corporate meeting minutes. The accompanying instructions for completing the form list a return address at 5859 West Saginaw Highway, #343, Lansing, MI, 48917-2460. In September 2012, LARA warned of a similar scam requesting $125 that involved a company with a similar name located at the same street address in Lansing.
“Unfortunately, these misleading mailings offering assistance for non-required services continue to go out and create confusion,” Arwood said. “To clarify, Michigan corporations are legally required to file annual reports or annual statements (not annual minutes) and may do so online directly to the State of Michigan.”
Michigan appears to be the latest state where corporations are being targeted to file annual minutes for a fee. Similar solicitation mailings have occurred in several other states including California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Texas where corporations have been victimized by such scams. These entities operate under identical or similar names and request payment fees ranging from $125, $150, $175 to $239 for the completion and submittal of an annual minutes statement.
The phony letters can look authentic. They may be addressed to the corporation, the resident agent, director or officers; cite a Michigan statute or a federal statute; and may appear to be issued by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Corporations, Securities, and Commercial Licensing Bureau, Corporations Division. If such notices are received, they are to be disregarded because they are neither issued by LARA nor any governmental agency.
Any Michigan corporation that receives a notice to have annual meeting minutes prepared and pay a fee to avoid dissolution of their corporation are advised to do the following:
1. Keep the notice, mailing envelope, and return envelope.
2. Contact the United States Postal Inspections Service to report mail fraud at: (877) 876-2455 or http://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MailFraudComplaint.aspx
3. Or contact the Michigan Office of the Attorney General at P.O. Box 30212, Lansing, MI 48909.

A Toledo grandmother is the latest victim of the “relative in trouble” scam.
Someone called her home claiming to be a grandchild “in jail in Peru” and she sent off $14,000 to get them out — or so she thought.
No relative was in trouble. The money is gone. The Better Business Bureau of Southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio reminds area residents not to fall for the ruse, which still is widespread.

Michigan’s Attorney General is warning consumers to be wary about buying late-model used cars at unbelievable prices. They might be flood-damaged vehicles salvaged from Superstorm Sandy.
Read more about it here.

Do you have a Web address?
Did you get an invoice recently from DNS Services of Vancouver, Wash. asking that you ante up $65 for continued ownership of the site domain name and related services.
Do not pay it!
It’s not an invoice, but a carefully crafted and convincing document that actually is a sales pitch. And those who do not examine it closely might be writing a check for nothing.
Here’s what the “invoice” looks like:

If you notice the fine print at the bottom (it’s highlighted in red), it specifically says “THIS IS A SOLICITATION FOR THE ORDER OF GOODS OR SERVICES, OR BOTH, AND NOT A BILL, INVOICE, OR STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT DUE. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO MAKE ANY PAYMENT ON ACCOUNT OF THIS OFFER UNLESS YOU ACCEPT THIS OFFER.”

That language is meant to conform to U.S. Postal Service rules meant to eliminate mail fraud. But busy businesses and individuals might just read right past that language and issue a check to the company while paying other legitimate invoices. What makes the mailing convincing is that DNS researchess the owners of domain names and customizes the solicitation, including specific company or individual names on the mailing.
Before you pay anything, make sure it’s a bill and not a sophisticated and misleading sales pitch.

Federal Trade Commission announces more than 70 enforcement actions in “Operation Lost Opportunity,” a crackdown on be-your-own-boss scams.
For more information, click here.