Nearly 2,200 Small Businesses that Purchased Scam Services to Receive Refund Eligibility Letters from Beshear

Small businesses eligible to receive $125 refund from $398,000 settlement

FRANKFORT, KY. (May 17, 2018) – Attorney General Andy Beshear announced today that his office is sending refund eligibility letters to nearly 2,200 Kentucky small businesses who were alleged to have been sold scam services from a Michigan-based company.

Beshear’s more than $398,000 settlement resolves alleged violations of the Kentucky Consumer Protection Act by Michigan-based The Mandatory Poster Company Inc., which also does business as Corporate Records Service.

Corporate Records Service was accused of sending Kentucky businesses an official-looking “Annual Minutes Form” mailer offering to provide “corporate minutes” work to business owners. The form created the impression that the mailer was sent by a government entity or that the purchase of the annual minutes was required by Kentucky law.

As part of the settlement, Corporate Records Service, agreed to provide a full, $125 refund to 2,191 businesses that purchased the minutes service and pay a penalty, which includes providing more than $93,000 to Kentucky’s general fund.

“Our letters are going out to small businesses affected by this scam the middle of May, and I encourage each owner to take part in the settlement we obtained for them,” Beshear said. “My office will continue to take any necessary action to protect Kentucky families, including those who own and operate our critically important small businesses, from scams and fraud.”

Beshear filed a lawsuit against Corporate Records Service in 2016 after the Attorney General’s office received numerous complaints from state business owners saying that the company was mailing misleading, deceptive or fraudulent information.

Beshear said the letter to small businesses will detail the refund process and how to claim it. To receive the refunds, consumers will need to sign a release and return the release to the Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Protection within 45 days from the date the letter is sent.

Beshear said his office is committed to protecting Kentucky families and encourages Kentuckians to reach out to his office and file a consumer online. Consumer complaints are an integral part of most every Consumer Protection Act action taken by the Office of the Attorney General.

Earlier this month, Beshear, with assistance from the Shelby County Sherriff’s Office and the Louisville Better Business Bureau, took legal action against a Shelbyville travel agency for allegedly canceling booked trips and failing to refund more than $91,000 to 40 customers.

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