Businesses should be aware of misleading solicitations

The Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) and the Better Business Bureau Serving Wisconsin (BBB), are warning businesses about solicitations designed to look like invoices arriving through postal mail. The solicitations are reported as from the “WI Certificate Service.”

The solicitation is designed to look like it is from the Secretary of State and requests payment of $72.50 for a “Certificate of Status.” The solicitation is not sent by the DFI and the requested payment amount far exceeds the fee the DFI charges to obtain an official certificate of status online.

The solicitation is not a valid invoice and businesses are advised to not pay it.

Buried within a paragraph on the mailing, is the following sentence, which could easily be missed, “WI Certificate Service is not affiliated with any government or state agency, and this is a solicitation for your business.” The address used by “WI Certificate Service” is actually a Madison UPS store and the toll-free phone number listed on the mailing is not a working number, according to BBB research.

Misleading solicitations that are designed to look like invoices, may contain a due date and look similar to a government form. They may even contain a logo or an entity’s ID number, and business information, which can be obtained from public records.

Businesses should carefully review all solicitations, notices and websites that offer various business filings, registrations, and copy and certification services, at prices above the required fees. In addition, check all businesses for free, at bbb.org.

Report suspected scams and fraud to BBB Scam Tracker.

To avoid falling victim to a misleading solicitation, the DFI and BBB recommend businesses do the following:

• Have a solid internal control process for paying invoices. Carefully check invoices against an approved vendor list, prior to processing them for payment.

• Train employees to follow internal processes, and never pay invoices before vetting them and getting authorization to pay.

• Question any invoice that does not look familiar and does not match an approved vendor list.