The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office is the steward of records for businesses statewide, and it has a duty to protect businesses from identity theft, fraudulent solicitations and cyberattacks.
Secretary of State Jena Griswold met with Durango and La Plata County leaders on Thursday at the Durango Chamber of Commerce to discuss legislation rolled out this year that’ll do just that.
Griswold said her office has about 925,000 certificates of good standing for businesses around the state. The certificates simply show those businesses are authorized to do work in Colorado.
But those legitimate businesses are at constant risk of being targeted by bad actors who might try to steal their credentials to use in filing for lines of credit or opening new illegitimate businesses.
The Secretary of State’s Office saw a large increase in business identity theft during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that trend has continued into 2023.
A new law that took effect in February combats those illegal activities, Griswold said. Before the law change, businesses staring down identity theft were left with no choice but to hire an attorney, which can be a costly endeavor.
Fighting back is now as easy as filing a claim with the Secretary of State’s Office.
“If a business or a person is a victim to having their personal information stolen or their business ID stolen, instead of hiring an attorney and filing a lawsuit, they file a claim with my office,” Griswold said. “The claim is then referred to the attorney general’s civil servant attorney. They do an investigation and then turn it back to us.”
During an investigation, the attorney general’s office will attempt to contact the alleged fraudulent business. If those efforts fail, or if it’s apparent the business in question is probably illegitimate, the business is flagged in the Secretary of State’s business registry as “potentially fraudulent.”
That mark gives legitimate businesses an early warning about who they may be working with.
“What that means is, if you’re contracting with a subcontractor and you see that they’re marked as potentially fraudulent, you’re going to think maybe twice in doing that,” Griswold said. “ … It allows business owners to take control back on their future, their employees’ future, a little easier.”
Griswold’s office has received 1,000 complaints from businesses and individuals since the law went into effect, and it expects to receive another 1,000 complaints before the end of the year, she said.
“To put that into perspective, I think we were expecting like 70, 50. So there is a lot of business identity theft out there. We see it all the time,” she said. “We’re trying to cut down on red tape for small business owners to be able to take control again.”
The Secretary of State’s Office has also cracked down on deceptive solicitations, or fraudulent junk mail and junk emails disguised as official government communications.
“Have you guys received a mailing (that) might look like it’s from the Secretary of State that says your annual filing is due, pay $200 or $300? Those are fraudsters trying to take advantage of Coloradans,” Griswold said.
It costs just $10 for a business to refile their documents with the Secretary of State’s Office online.
However, deceptive solicitations can be hard to distinguish from legitimate mailings, and scammers often protect themselves from prosecution with small disclaimers in 6-point font, saying their mailings are not official government mailings.
The Secretary of State’s Office decided that won’t fly anymore.
A law was passed requiring these fraudsters to say loudly and clearly in 24-point bolded and boxed font that their mailings are not official government communications, and the law prohibits them from saying when filings are supposedly due, Griswold said.
“There’s a lot of things they can’t include or they have to include to make sure Coloradans know, ‘Oh, this is really just junk mail.’ The same goes for email solicitation,” she said.
The Secretary of State’s Office has also streamlined and modernized business processes to make things easier on businesses, including:
- Remote notary services. They were implemented in 2020 on an emergency basis during the COVID-19 pandemic because of safety concerns about getting documents notarized in-person. In 2021, remote notary services were codified in the law.
- Text notifications for important filings. Business owners can sign up to receive text notifications of due dates so they stay front of mind.
- Secure business filings. Password protections for business accounts have been implemented to safeguard business owners from identity theft and fraud.
cburney@durangoherald.com
