Fraud Alert
June 2009 -- Among all the mail, email, faxes, advertisements, Twitters, blogs, and more we are bombarded with each day, it can be difficult to know what information is important and what isn't. It can also be tricky to decipher whether official-looking business forms you receive in the mail are legitimate.
A client of our firm recently received a form called "Disclosure Statement" from the fictitious "Department of Annual Minutes Compliance" (DAMC) in California. It appears this client received the form because of business it has in the sunny state. The form looks legitimate with bar codes, a file number, disclosure statements and the like, but in the small print it says, "This product or service has not been approved or endorsed by any government agency....No obligation to make payments unless you accept this offer." Anyone who failed to read this small print, however, may have mailed the $125 "filing fee", thinking he or she was complying with a California law.
If you receive this Disclosure Statement from DAMC you may disregard it entirely. You may also want to notify the Department of Consumer Affairs or Department of Corporations of this scam.