The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has issued a scam alert regarding letters that claim to come from the U.S. Business Regulations Department, Corporate Transparency Act Division, Process and Filing Center. The BBB affirms that while the CTA is real, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is real, this letter is not. Scammers are impersonating government officials with a new strategy to confuse business owners into giving up their information.
The letters will come addressed to the business and have a notice ID number. Scammers combine personal information collected from data breaches with official-looking seals and watermarks to make the correspondence seem legitimate.
The letter will assert the recipient’s “reporting obligations under the Corporate Transparency Act” and instruct them to report ownership information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The letter says to visit a website or scan a QR code to report the information.
Anyone who receives this letter should report it to BBB Scam Tracker and disregard it.
To avoid government impostor scams:
- Verify correspondence with government agencies and ensure it’s legitimate before taking action. Call the government office directly, using its official phone number, to verify the communications are real.
- Don’t engage with scammers. As soon as you know you are dealing with a scammer, cease communication.
Report government impostor scams to the FBI.  
