It’s novel to get the snail mail equivalent of spam. This one came via U.S. mail from the Fictitious Business Name Renewal Center in Sacramento, CA. My business is required to register and publish a Fictitious Business Name (FBN, aka DBA or Doing Business As) every 5 years. And every 5 years I get an official-looking form from this organization telling me that “California Law Requires You To Renew Your Fictitious Business Name…”. In fine print, at the end of a paragraph of fine print, it says “This is not a bill. This is a solicitation. You are under no obligation to pay the amount stated, unless you accept this offer.”
If you run a web search on the name of this organization you’ll see lots of posts with words like “ripoff” and “scam”. Some are from people who paid the fee (it used to be $100, now it’s $150) and in exchange received the freely available form and instructions about how to renew your FBN. Caveat emptor.
waty wolf says
I paid socalfbn $ 85 on 12/15/11 Diamond Bar these scammers,then now I get form
fictitious business renewal center cost me $125 this is another scammer?
Robert says
If the form says something like (in tiny print near the bottom) “This is not a bill. This is a solicitation.” then it’s the same as what I got. Here’s one example. Read the fine print to the left of the $100 “fee.” Another version comes from the “Board of Business Compliance.”
Hank says
Shouldn’t this be illegal? I mean, isn’t that one of the FIVE things Government is actually SUPPOSED to do? Protect its citizens from fraud?
Ironic that government has become so full of it.
Joey says
@Hank – A thing is fraud if they say it is one thing, and it is actually another. In this case, it’s slimy, it’s borderline deceptive, but it is NOT fraud. They say exactly what they are doing right at the bottom of the notice. Anyone who falls for this just isn’t reading the document.
Regarding your comment about government: according to the Constitution, the government is supposed to:
Form a more perfect union
Establish justice
Insure domestic tranquility
Provide for the common defense
Promote the general welfare
Secure the blessings of liberty
I don’t see “protect us from being stupid” anywhere in there….
Mary says
I almost fell for this scam until I read the ‘small print.’ I wondered why it was such a large amount, in the first place. Again, ALWAYS read the small print! Now, I can use my $150.00 for something else!
HdB says
My wife just got one of these scams in the snail mail. It came from a DBA FILING & RENEWAL CENTER in Sacramento. We almost fell for it. We were lucky our accountant happened to be with us and immediately saved us from paying the $125.00 fee on it. These scammers need to be persecuted. There must be a law against this somewhere!
Robert says
At least persecuted if not prosecuted. 😉
albert says
Wow, there are ALOT of you people out there with LOTS of time on your hands! It’s a solicitation, if you don’t want the service, you simply throw the notice away!!! How hard is that? Read the fine print, these are actually some very smart people who’ve found a way to make money offering a service. Legal Zoom does the very same thing, I don’t hear you calling them a scam!!!
Robert says
LegalZoom hasn’t sent me one of these. If they do, and if it appears to be trying to trick me into paying for a service I don’t need, I’ll handle them the same way.
wilka says
The SCAM is still going strong. Just received the same nonsense but now it says in big letters at the bottom
THIS PRODUCT OR SERVICE HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED OR ENDORSED BY ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY, AND THIS OFFER IS NOT BEING MADE BY AN AGENCY OF THE GOVERNMENT.
But this is how they still get you. They put a close deadline on the timeframe in which you have to respond. So immediately you’re thrown off kilter because you think something important is about to expire.
This is horrible. 125.00 for absolutely nothing.
Another SCAM received the very next day. This time from someone offering to get escheated monies back from the state for me for just 10% of whatever they recover. This along with the FB renewal are things citizens can do for themselves directly with the government without “paid” intermediaries.
John k says
This one requires full ignorant status as to what scum will try. I’m send my application back with dirt and dog crap COD. Slugs!
Robert Weiner says
Everything should be at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development or your county government office’s web site.