We frequently get questions from our clients about requests for payment of registration, publication, or renewal fees for corporate, domain name and intellectual property filings. Requests may also be received for monitoring fees or the preparation of minutes.
The scam requests typically look like invoices or letters, often containing false due dates or threats about loss of rights if you do not send payment now.
Sometimes the filings and services mentioned in these communications are completely unnecessary. If the filings or services are required, the price offered by the scammer is often exorbitant, or the services offered by the scammer are insufficient to satisfy legal requirements.
Scams can be hard to identify, because scammers often use names and logos that are similar to official state and federal agencies. Even the envelopes contain language designed to make you believe you’re holding an official communication.
Unfortunately, it’s easy for scammers to obtain enough specific information about your company, URL, or intellectual property to appear to be real government offices and registries.
Filings are often publicly available online, and they typically contain the contact information of the owner of the business, URL, or intellectual property, as well as relevant dates.
This means you must be extremely careful when you receive any type of request for payment. You shouldn’t, however, simply throw away requests you’re not sure about since they may actually be from a government office or official registry. In that event, ignoring the request may lead to loss of your rights.
If you’re not sure about a particular notice, you can do an Internet search for more information about that request.
More information about some common scams appears below.
Domain Names
Many of our clients have received notifications from a purported domain name company (typically located in either Asia or Eastern Europe) asking permission for another company to obtain a domain name that is virtually identical to the client’s domain name or trademark. Alternatively, the notification may ask whether the client has already authorized the other company to register the domain name.
If the client responds that the off-shore company’s use of the proposed domain is unacceptable, the scammer says the only way to prevent the domain name from being sold to the off-shore company is for the client to buy the domain name for a higher-than-normal fee.
Business Filings
Sometimes a scammer indicates that it’s monitoring your company’s corporate or business license filings. Although the notices may look like formal government documents, they’re not.
The scammer will offer to assist you in renewing your registrations or preparing meeting minutes that don’t contain all relevant information for fees that are much higher than normal.
Trademarks
Some of our clients have received “important notifications” from companies offering to monitor or renew their trademarks and/or record their trademark registrations with US Customs & Border Protection.
This problem has become so pervasive that the Trademark Office actually has an alert on its website listing known scams.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) also maintains a list of scams.
IRS
Scammers are making phone calls, sending letters, and even showing up at people’s homes demanding payments allegedly for taxes owed the IRS. The IRS website provides information on how to determine whether it’s really the IRS contacting you, as well as descriptions of known scams.
Social Security
Robocalls about the loss of your Social Security benefits are ubiquitous. See the Social Security Administration’s website for information on how to protect yourself from a Social Security scam.
COVID-19 Scams
Creative but dishonest people have used the pandemic as fodder for a whole new set of scams, including calls from fake contact tracers and Zoom phishing emails indicating that your account has been suspended or that you missed a meeting.
The US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General has posted a fraud alert about COVID-19 related scams.
Banking Scams
One of the most common banking scams involves scam artists sending checks to people with instructions for them to deposit the checks in their bank accounts and wire part of the money back to them. Those who do so will find that, since the check was fake, they not only don’t have that money and owe the bank fees for depositing a fake check, but that they lose the money they wired.
Emails phishing for your bank account or debit card number are also common. The email might indicate, for example, that there’s been suspicious activity on your account, claim there’s a problem with your account, require you to confirm personal information or ask you to click on a link to make a payment or sign into your account.
In addition to using appropriate security on your computer, phone and other devices and protecting your accounts with multi-factor authentication, you should avoid opening the attachment or clicking on the link. Contact the company using a phone number or website you’ve verified is real – do not use the information in the email.
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Carefully read any letter or notice you receive. Scam notices often say outright that they are not official government notices. Be very suspicious of any robocall or unexpected email, text, or letter you receive that asks for money or personal information. Do an online search to see if it’s a scam.
Please feel free to contact us for assistance if you still aren’t able to tell if a notice or call is real.
