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Corporate Compliance Center
HOW TO VERIFY YOUR COMPANY's STATUS
Each state will have a different website. I know of the California Statement of Information Office Online, with which you can verify whether a corporation is active or not. After a search, an ACTIVE status means your filing is still good, however, it does not mean you are compliant with the $25/year payment. For that, if you know you did not send anything yet, I think you have to call the office to see where it's at.
Got yet another Corporate Compliance Center letter. The last one was in 2015. I've put a link below the 2011 version. As you will notice, the letter is slightly different. Not too sure why they would do that. Maybe it makes it a bit harder to search with Google.
Here are scans. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
Figure 1. The letter (click to enlarge)
Click here to see the letter of 2015
The main letter asks you to send $150 to make sure your information is properly registered with the State of California. For those of you who do not know, the State has not changed the amount charged to keep your company registered: $25.
Letter Transcript
Corporate Compliance Center logo (circle with 3 open rings inside)
CA-2011 (representing the letter number or reference)
CORPORATE COMPLIANCE CENTER
ANNUAL MINUTES COMPLIANCE NOTICE
Secretary of State No.: 02642666 (this is our corporation registration number, note the Secretary of State number!)
CCC File No.: 1294429CAN1
1294429CAN1 *******AUTO**SCII 3-DIGIT 956
MADE TO ORDER SOFTWARE CORPORATION
ALEXIS WILKE
9275 BLUE OAK DRIVE 144-43938
ORANGEVALE CA 95662-5326
(followed by the postal code bar representing the address)
RETURN BY 8/31/11 TO ALLOW ADEQUATE (the $25 has to be paid by April, either they're dead late for 2011 or they're very early for 2012)
PROCESSING TIME
California Law Minutes Requirements. CA
Corp. Code Section §1500 requires non-exempt
California corporations to keep minutes of shareholders,
director and director committee proceedings.
Consequence on Non-Compliance. Failure to comply
with this statute is a factor courts may consider that can
result in personal liability of corporation shareholders for
corporation debts and obligations without limit to amount
as a result of alter ego liability.
Complete and Return the Form Below so that CCC can
prepare the documents to meet the terms of the Annual Minutes
Requirements of CA Corp. Code §1500.
Make Your Check For $150.00 Payable to CCC. It is
important we receive your response by 8/31/11 to ensure the
timely preparation of your Annual Minutes. You should receive
your Certificate of Minutes within 3 weeks of sending your
form.
(916) 480-9006 * Return this form with your check and mail to us in the enclosed envelop *
| BUSINESS INFORMATION | (COMPLETE/MAKE CHANGES WHERE NECESSARY (PRINT OR TYPE) |
|
Business Name & Principal Office Street Address MADE TO ORDER SOFTWARE, CORPORATION 9275 BLUE OAK DR |
City, State, Zip Code ORANGEVALE, CA, 95662-5326 |
|
Person to Contact |
Telephone (With Area Code) - Fax (With Area Code) |
|
OFFICERS - NAMES OF ALL OFFICERS, INCLUDING OFFICERS WHO ARE DIRECTORS |
DIRECTORS - NAMES OF ALL DIRECTORS, INCLUDING DIRECTORS WHO ARE OFFICERS |
|
PRESIDENT/CEO (Required Position) ALEXIS WILKE |
DIRECTOR #1 NAME (Required Position) |
|
VICE PRESIDENT (Optional Position) |
DIRECTOR #2 NAME (Required if there are 2 Shareholders) |
|
SECRETARY (Required Position) |
DIRECTOR #3 NAME (Required if 3 or more Shareholders) |
|
TREASURER / CFO (Required Position) |
DIRECTOR #4 NAME (Optional Position) |
| DIRECTOR #5 NAME (Optional Position) | |
| (some "random" code bar) |
DIRECTOR #6 NAME (Optional Position) |
|
RETURN BY 8/31/11 TO ALLOW ADEQUATE PROCESSING TIME |
DIRECTOR #7 NAME (Optional Position) |
|
If additional space is needed for director names, please attach a separate sheet of paper |
DIRECTOR #8 NAME (Optional Position) |
| CA B&P CODE SEC 17533.6. THIS SERVICE HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED OR ENDORSED BY ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY, AND THIS OFFER IS NOT BEING MADE BY AN AGENCY OF THE GOVERNMENT. THIS IS NOT A BILL |
AMOUNT ENCLOSED $150.00 |
[the form includes two PRINT OR TYPE watermarks in light gray]
RETURN THIS FORM NO LATER THAN 8/31/11 TO ENSURE TIME FOR PROCESSING.
CORPORATE COMPLIANCE CENTER, 2740 FULTON AVE., SUITE 203, SACRAMENTO, CA 95821 (916) 480-9006
CCC No. 1294429CAN1
CCC_CA_DS_N1_R71_M3_M3
©2011 Corporate Compliance Center (Yeah! then even have a copyright!)
Note that they did include a notice tell you you should not send them any money. So I have to grant them that they are not 100% crooked.
Figure 2. The Envelope I Received
The envelope used to send the letter includes the address. Somehow, the same as the one found in the form!
Notice the warning: THIS IS NOT A GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT
Good, but why make it look like one if it isn't one?!
Figure 3. Return Envelope (Front)
Figure 4. Return Envelope (Back)
The return envelope includes the usual, hey don't forget to include your check! That's really all we want!
Anyway, they will eventually send you something back... I'm not too sure.
In regard to what they are talking about, it sounds like the Corporation minutes and not the $25 registration fee. So the fee could very well be anything you'd like. I have such a letter and it generally simply says that nothing is changing this year. As for the date, they got it wrong for my company. Whether the shareholders have to be present, not really. It is their right to be present, but it is optional.
Anyway, to type a letter, you probably don't need to pay $150 to some stranger.
Here I got a new one for 2020. This time the fee is $175. What I don't understand is that this is the same address so the exact same people and that's been going for ages. I'm really wondering why no one bothered to remove those scammers. Maybe they are a group of attorneys and so they know the law and they think this can be done without much risk to themselves.
Here is also a picture of their office, as viewed from the outside:
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Mon, 04/28/2014 - 08:43
3-1-14 Just spoke to my CPA and said I should have never paid this.
3-24-14 Called & left 2 messages still no responds
4-28-14 Yeah Brenda answered, But she transferred me to corporation department :(
Left message. I called back for Brenda but no answer!! so I left another message!!
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Mon, 09/15/2014 - 10:53
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Wed, 09/17/2014 - 12:11
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Wed, 09/17/2014 - 14:25
Reporting such a scam is generally directly to the website of the Secretary of State or Companies Registration. It varies from state to state. For example, there is a letter from the Secretary of State in Indiana: http://www.in.gov/sos/business/3279.htm which tells you to either call or use their website at http://www.in.gov/ai/appfiles/sos-berf/ to report such scams.
Try searching using Google with something like:
report corporate compliance scam <state name in full>
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Fri, 10/17/2014 - 08:19
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Tue, 12/09/2014 - 09:19
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Sat, 01/31/2015 - 21:42
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Mon, 02/23/2015 - 17:00
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Mon, 02/23/2015 - 17:06
I don't think you'll ever get a response. I never sent them any money either, so I'm fine. The best is to complain to the police. It probably won't do much of anything either, but it could help in catching them if the police gets enough complaints.
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Tue, 06/09/2015 - 09:59
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Tue, 09/01/2015 - 12:19
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Mon, 09/28/2015 - 14:42
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Sun, 05/14/2017 - 16:03
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Sun, 05/14/2017 - 19:54
Yeah, these scam artists do not stop. Quite incredible. But they must be making enough money at it and thus go on. Plus if you just received it, it was late because the fee is due in Feb. of each year.
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Wed, 10/18/2017 - 10:20
Thanks for posting this. I received a "Labor Law Compliance Request Form" with the subheading saying "Failure to comply with posting regulations can lead to fines up to $17,000." This is of course an attempt to intimidate. Lots of official looking information, like my business ID, notice date, document fee--$84 for a labor law poster--and code, with a date by which I have to respond. Into the trash it goes. Address: PO Box 670488, Houston TX 77267-0488.
Thank you so much for alerting others to these scams. So many of them!
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Wed, 11/22/2017 - 06:20
I just received the same one and I knew it looked fishy because when I registered my company the form asked if I would have any employees and i indicated NO. So why would I have to have this if i just have my self as an employee.
LOL- SCAMMERS
Plus there is no phone number to call to ask questions.
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Tue, 03/13/2018 - 10:11
Corporate Compliance Center sent our corporation a scam letter received on March 12, 2018. They want $150 to process the documents required to comply with the filing of our minutes. They sent the letter to our CPA's address and the name of the person they had on the letter has not been involved with the corporation for probably 10 years.
I certainly hope that no one is getting caught up in this scam.
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Tue, 03/13/2018 - 10:40
Unfortunately, since people are still reporting receiving these letters, I would imagine that they continue to market their company that way because it works to a certain extend. They probably don't get super rich doing this, though.
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Mon, 04/09/2018 - 10:40
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Mon, 04/09/2018 - 20:12
Yes. The office of the Secretery of State has a page you can use to find out whether your company is active as expected. If the company if found there and is marked active, givethem a call to ask about the ytearly $25 payment and whether they received it for the current year. On my end i receive a small postal card as a notice that a payment is due. I receive that card early in January. If you moved and have not yet made the change of address witht that office, then you are not unlikely to miss that notice! So checking with them is an excellent idea.
Note that if you formed your company with a CPA or an Attorney and they are still taking careof the company maintenance, then they are the one paying the fee. You can, of course, contact them to see whether they any information in that regard.
If your the search of your company returns a status other than ACTIVE then it is likely that the registration lapsed. I have no clue how to fix such. It never happened to me. Hiring someone knowledgeable is wise in this case (a CPA or an Corporate Attorney come to mind.)
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Wed, 12/26/2018 - 19:45
I have recieved these several times, I check my Legal Zoom account and they pretty much say they're not seeing any issues of me being non compliant, I pay them to handle all filings including annual minutes.
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Tue, 09/10/2019 - 22:53
Yes. I got the same letter. For payment, I sent them a booger.
Re: Corporate Compliance Center
on Mon, 09/16/2019 - 10:32
The kicker is right on the delivered envelope: THIS IS NOT A GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT
I then know it's junk and it goes straight into the trash without even opening