A client of mine just sent me an email asking if he really needed to pay Corporate Records Service $125 for by minutes to be recorded. The answer is a resounding NO!!! It is a scam.

Under Texas law, Corporations are required to conduct annual meetings of Shareholders and annual meetings of Directors, and Minutes of both meetings should be kept and recorded in the Corporate Book.  However, private corporations are not required to record them anywhere else.

People have been receiving letters which appear to be very official looking and request corporate information and payment information.

It does state that you can prepare the Minutes yourself, have an attorney prepare them for you, or hire a service (presumably like them).  That is true.  However, the group which purports to be out of Illinois is not registered with the Secretary of State there, nor is it authorized to do business in that state.  Other attorneys have also commented on blog posts and LinkedIn that it is a scam, and to beware of providing your credit card information.

A search of the Texas Comptroller’s site also shows that there is no entity authorized to do business in Texas under that name either.

If you receive a letter or email from a business that you have never done business with before that is asking you for information or money, beware!