Recently 800,000 businesses throughout Colorado received an official looking letter in the mail that appeared to be from the State of Colorado. The letter was in regards to the annual filing fee that Colorado charges businesses and this letter stated that they had until July 15, 2011 to fill out the paperwork and attached a check for $225.00 and send it to a PO Box in Denver Co.
My wife is a small business owner and I have owned a small business in the past and both of us had never received a letter like this from the State of Colorado nor were the filing fees ever that expensive. As I read through the letter I noticed that the statues regarding business filings were listed as well as the ramifications for not filing. However in big bold letters the annual fee again showed $225.00 and stated that businesses were required to mail in the fee along with information about the business.
I knew that in the past businesses were able to re-register your business through the Colorado Secretary of State’s web site and the cost was $10.00. This letter stated that my wife should send $225.00 to the Corporate Controllers Unit at a Denver PO Box. Something was very suspicious. I finally got to the end of the letter and there was the disclaimer. It stated that the product or service was not approved or indorsed by any Government Agency and my wife was not under any obligation to make any payments to this company.
My first thought was “I wonder how many businesses in Colorado got scammed into thinking this was a formal letter from the State of Colorado and mailed these scammers $250 to receive what they could do for themselves for only $10.” I then decided to call the Secretary of State’s office the next day and let them know about this company.
Later that evening, I was watching the local news. To my surprise Channel 7, our local ABC news affiliate was running a report titled “Colorado Attorney General Going After Scammer Targeting Colo. Businesses.” (To read the 7 News report click on this link). The news report stated that CCU is a company based in Nevada and uses the Colorado mailing address as a front to make businesses believe they are a Colorado Governmental agency.
As individuals we cannot stop shady companies from running these scams. However, we can pass the word to others in the hope that few will fall to these type of deceptive practices. I pray the A. G. makes an example of Corporate Controllers Unit in Nevada, so other scam companies will think twice about trying these deceptive business practices.
