Business Registration Manual

Received a Suspicious or Misleading Mailing?

This page offers you advice about how to detect a suspicious mailing.

The three most common misleading or deceptive mailings seen at the North Carolina Secretary of State’s Office are solicitations for assistance with:

• Preparing Annual Minutes
• Filing Annual Reports
• Obtaining a Certificate of Existence

It is not uncommon for business owners across the country to receive these solicitations. The solicitations may include details about your company, leading you to believe these are official communications from a state agency.

Common elements of these solicitations include providing compliance with state filing laws and offering to file on your behalf for a fee. This fee is usually much higher than the filing fee required by the North Carolina Secretary of State. In some cases, as with solicitations for the preparation of annual minutes, there is no such required filing.