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Secretary of State Connie Lawson warns businesses of deceptive letter
INDIANAPOLIS -- Secretary of State Connie Lawson announced Friday that some Indiana businesses have received a deceptive letter that may appear to come from the office's Business Services Division. The letter is an attempt to solicit Indiana business owners and is not dispatched by or from the Secretary of State's Office.
The letter solicits a $125 annual fee and states it will be used for record keeping and processing of a company's annual minutes. It cites state law at the beginning of the document and says it came from the Indiana Council for Corporations, which some could confuse with a government agency form.
The return address on some of the recently mailed letters references a box at a UPS Store in Speedway.
"Similar letters have been sent to Hoosiers business owners in the past couple of years," Secretary Lawson said. "I believe they are distributing this letter to businesses during tax season when people are busy and may not have time to thoroughly read each document they receive. I urge everyone to use caution and to be on the lookout for these letters."
Click here to see a copy of one of these suspicious letters.
Secretary Lawson is concerned businesses may be confused by the letter and may believe responding to it substitutes the need for filing a business entity report, which is legitimately required by state law.
The Secretary of State's office no longer sends report filing notices to Hoosier businesses by mail. Businesses operating in Indiana can securely perform this reporting online through the Secretary of State's website, www.in.gov/sos/business.
Businesses wishing to check the validity of any mailing from Indiana's Business Services Division or any division of the Office of the Indiana Secretary of State should contact the Business Services Division Help Line at (317) 232-6576.
Secretary Lawson has referred these latest letters distributed in Indiana over to Attorney General Greg Zoeller.