Don’t fall into the extra fee trap, warns secretary of state
Secretary of State Jena Griswold is seeing an uptick in filing-fee scams and is asking small-business owners to be on the alert.
“Small-business owners are especially vulnerable to filing-fee scams because they don’t have the in-house staff of lawyers and HR professionals which corporations can afford to have worrying about such things,” said Tony Gagliardi, NFIB Colorado state director. “So, we at NFIB would like to amplify Secretary Griswold’s warning.”
According to a July 26 news release issued by her office, “The Colorado Secretary of State’s office is again alerting small business owners about more potentially misleading notices requesting an extra fee for a third party to file business documents. The Secretary of State’s office has continued to receive reports of third parties sending additional deceptive and misleading solicitations to Colorado businesses. The Colorado Secretary of State maintains an easy-to-use online filing system for businesses. Use of a third party to complete filings with the Secretary of State is not required.”
NFIB Colorado highly encourages its members to read the secretary’s news release before paying another filing fee.
“Once again we are seeing people trying to profit off of misleading and unnecessary solicitations to business owners,” said Secretary Griswold. “Our office takes pride in having an easy-to-use and affordable business filing system, which is why we are alerting business owners about these third-party solicitations.”
