Corporation Compliance Recorder - SCAM

[YouCannotFoolMe]

This is another of those companies claiming to keep your corp in compliance with state law. For more info on this type of scam, visit the thread entitled "Fake Shareholder Minutes".

The company has also been reported numerous times to the Better Business Bureau:

Corporate Compliance Recorder Gives Solicitations In The Guise Of Invoices A New Look

BUSINESS LINK - January 2005


Corporate Compliance Recorder has been the subject of 14 complaints to the Bureau so far, all of them in 2004. None of the complainants lost any money to the Los Angeles company, and CCR has responded to 75 percent of the complaints we've presented to it.


Why, then, do we give it failing marks for its business performance, and what makes it worthy of front-page space in the vehicle we use to alert you to problem companies?


The answer is simple: its potential to deceive and thereby reap profits at the expense of unsuspecting businesses.


The complainants against CCR are business men and women. They're not uneducated or inexperienced. Just the same, some say they were "almost tricked" into paying what CCR wanted and providing the information they asked. And, despite the fact that these complainants were not financial victims, we believe others undoubtedly have been, and that of those, many may still not even realize they have been victimized.


How does CCR trick, or almost trick, business people?


The answer has to do with the look and sound of their solicitations and with the very fact that their solicitations don't appear to be solicitations at all.


CCR sends corporations a "Disclosure Statement," complete with a seal encircled by the company's name in the left-hand corner. In bold print, near the top, it states a fee of $125 for disclosure and processing, with an increased fee of $175 for "documents received after due date." It cites sections of the California Corporations Code, relating to the requirement for a corporation to keep adequate and correct books and records of account, minutes, and the names and addresses of its members, and to the right of any member to inspect and copy the record of members' names, addresses and voting rights. (It does not point out that the sections it quotes apply to nonprofit religious corporations.)


The Disclosure Statement directs you to read their "Notification" before completing the form, and this Notification informs you that annual minutes are a statutory requirement. If you want your corporation to remain in good standing and to avoid "possible exposure and personal liability," you should complete the form and send your payment. Again it cites Code sections and concludes with a warning:


"California courts are becoming increasingly intolerant on [sic] officers and directors who do not follow corporate procedure. Failure to comply with these measures could cause your corporation to lose its limited liability. Without corporate minute records, the system may possibly allow creditors, plaintiffs and other entities to sue you personally for debts and actions of the corporation."


Cindy Daly, 53, Vice President of SFO Productions, a TV production company in northern California, received such a mailing from CCR. Although she holds an MBA and suspected that the form and notice weren't official, she couldn't be certain. "It looked official, and I wasn't up to date on corporate filings. I thought I might be missing something," she says.


She asked her accountant to take a look at the materials. "My biggest problem was that they had our corporate name and number [on the form] and asked us to list our officers. That inflamed me because of the risk of identity theft."


CCR's form does, indeed, ask for names and addresses of directors and shareholders. Only on the back of the form, at the very end, in about the middle of 10 lines of fine print and separated from the rest of the form by only a line, does the disclaimer required by law appear. The text ahead of the disclaimer describes CCR as a "non-govermental service that assists corporations to avoid possible penalties and fines with state and government agencies. In order to remain in good standing ...your corporation must have its minutes... documented and placed in the corporate records book." It continues by directing you to fill out all information requested, and warns that failing to complete and return it before the due date can result in "possible exposure to your corporation, which could then lead to the piercing of your corporate veil (protection) or the possible loss of tax deductions and benefits."


Finally, the required statement that CCR has not been approved or endorsed by any government agency and is not being made by an agency of the state or government, appears. Then it goes on to tell you how the information you provide will be used and that it will be treated as private and confidential.


CCR's disclaimer is not on the face of the solicitation, as required, and it is not distinguished from the rest of the text by typography, layout or color, as is also required. Nor does the envelope bear on its face, in "conspicuous and legible type," or in any other type, a notice that "THIS IS NOT A GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT."


In its responses to complaints, CCR states, in most cases, that it will remove the company's name from its mailing lists. In a couple of cases, it simply quotes its disclaimer.


Despite the fact that no complainant so far has lost money to CCR, Cindy Daly did incur the expense of having her accountant review the form. CCR denied her request for reimbursement of that expense, as well as any compensation for her own time lost because of their misleading solicitation.


Nevertheless, she would probably agree that, compensation or not, the time she used to investigate and conclude that she shouldn't disclose her company information or pay the $125 was time well spent.


Perhaps more importantly, all the complainants who took the time to complain, even though they lost only time and perhaps temper, implied concern that others might be taken in by the scam. To the extent that their complaints filed with the Bureau divert others from losing money to CCR, they, too, probably feel their time was well spent.