If you own a business, be wary. The stories outlined below (from legal colleagues of mine in Colorado) should get your attention as a business owner.

  1. “I had a case some years back where three people suddenly decided they were the legitimate board of an association, and  they want into the entity’s account with the Secretary of State and changed everything.  I had to file a suit and eventually we won, but it was a long haul.  This is a good option to make your entity clients aware of.”

Even lawyers become the victims of scam artists. The URL’s outlined below also indicate ways one can address this threat.

  1. “I just received a notice from the Colorado Secretary of State regarding an LLC owned by one of my clients that was totally highjacked by a stranger to title!!  They changed the name, address, registered agent, everything!!  Thank God I have the entity set up for alerts!!” See <https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/business/FAQs/secureFiling.html>

Another colleague immediately answer this post with:

  1. “As a precaution given this thread, I just went to my business’  [Secretary of State] page and clicked on the ‘set up secure business filing’ which says it will send me via US Postal service a PIN to use when changing anything on my SoS filing.  Further, there is an option to set up text or email notifications, and that seems to simply involve entering my email address.  Ditto for text alerts.  

“The email notification service allows you to receive updates regarding the business organization record identified above. Notifications regarding changes to the record and any applicable due dates will automatically generate an email alerting you to check the record.”

“ Individual identity theft and Business identity theft are similar, and has been increasing in Colorado. One of the first steps to protecting your business from this criminal scheme is to sign up for the Secretary of State’s email notification service. For more information about the email notification service and preventing business identity theft in Colorado, go here.

https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/business/ProtectYourBusiness/protectYourBusiness.html

“For additional information about this service, refer to the ‘Email Notification’ section at <https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/business/FAQs/email.html”.

Note: Providing an email address is optional. Email addresses will not be sold or otherwise disclosed by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office.”

Another prominent colleague added the following:

“D theft and other scams do target law firms.  I remember my office manager thinking something was strange when we started getting telephone calls with people asking if we were legit as Adams Law saying someone was calling from our number about their real property, which is how they got our number to call us to check on the calls they were getting FROM OUR OFFICE NUMBER!  We tracked it to a telephone technology scam whereby office buildings with telephone equipment called Private Branch Exchanges or PBXs is used and I’m in an 11-story building with a PBX.  We then had to alert Comcast which provides our telephone service and they stopped the hackers from making calls as if they were calling from our number, and I reported it to the Colorado Attorney General’s office.” 

In conclusion, if you want to make sure that a Colorado entity’s account with the Secretary of State is protected by the secure business filing option, use this URL.

https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/business/FAQs/secureFiling.html