After the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) extended the deadline for small business owners to file their Beneficial Owner Information (BOI) report, I went online and did a quick search to file a BOI report.
When I searched this up, I had many sponsored links. I scrolled through Google, and I eventually found the FinCEN link, but it was buried below several other links, and also below a whole host of advertisements where other “businesses” were willing to file your BOI report for you. I was a little perplexed by this, and after I clicked on a few of these ads (I was happy to cost these scammers some money), I eventually just clicked on one of the links. What I found was that these were BAD links, and when I say bad, the seamless collection of information from an unsuspecting person could be catastrophic.
So, let’s do a quick breakdown of how bad these fake websites are.
So, the first website I went to had a lot of threatening language about what would happen if I failed to file a BOI report. They tried to scare me with the fines that FinCEN would impose, and had a large, prominent button telling me to “file now”. They also had a logo on the cite that was similar to FinCEN’s logo, but not quite, it looks enough like the actual FinCEN logo to be deceptive, but it isn’t the FinCEN logo, but if you were worried, then you might mistake it for a legitimate website.
After going to this website, I clicked the “file now” link, and it quickly and immediately prompted me to fill out the “FinCEN” form, which included my business information, including it’s EIN, along with my name, address and other sensitive data. I supplied fake information, but the information the site collected was simply scary to me.
The whole first page, had I actually filled it out, would have given this website all of my business’ information. I filled it with fake information and went to the second page, again, the website was operating on the premise that it was allowing me to file the FinCEN BOI report for me. After I submitted my fake information, (I did have some fun with this), it then took me to a page where it asked me (and gave me options to provide information on the other owners of my fake corporation – to their fake website) to provide my personal information.
After the website made the process so simple, and collected both a lot of my personal information, and my business information, essentially everything the website needed to commit identity theft for myself, and my business – I mean complete and total identity theft, it asked me for payment.
So, had I provided them all of this information on the guise that they would file my FinCEN BOI report, they asked me to pay. The cost to file the free FinCEN BOI report was $350.00.
So, to add insult to injury, this website would have stolen all of my personal information, a picture of the front and back of my driver’s license, my social security number, my business’s EIN, my business’ information, and all of my hard work would have benefited this scammer, only to charge me for the service. I guess the insult to injury, had I been taken by this scam, is that I would pay them for stealing my information.
When I tried to see if there was any recourse, and of course, the owners of this domain name have everything registered privately. There is a chance that we could issue subpoenas to discover who these people are, but they likely aren’t US citizens and likely outside of someone that we could actually sue for damages, meaning that they have all of your information, and we couldn’t do anything about it.
Remember, there is no fee to file a BOI report. There is no late fee, the BOI reporting is open until March 21, 2025. There is a fine if you don’t report, and there could even be criminal penalties if you don’t meet the deadline. Give us a call, and we can help you make sure you meet these requirements. All you have to do is provide what you provided to the state when you created your corporation. In Missouri, you will have to actually provide your owners’ information, which is not necessarily required when you create a Missouri LLC. You also have to upload a copy of each owners’ drivers license.
It is a relatively quick process, but remember, had you gone to a site like this, you would be paying them to steal your information, including a copy of your drivers license. This is why scams surrounding the BOIR are so damaging.
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