- Established Credit Scam:
This is by far the most common of the scams and the most lucrative for the scammers. In this scam, the scammer may be a “legitimate” incorporation service or business credit building service, or even a company just selling shelf corps, but what makes this a scam is that they will try to sell you a Shelf Corp that supposedly comes with established credit and cash lines of credit which they make it look like you would be able to access right away after purchasing the shelf corp. You get so excited about obtaining the easy money they are offering that you pay a high price for the shelf corp and then find out that the cash lines of credit either don’t exist yet (and you need to apply and be approved for them), or are not really cash lines of credit but rather a pre-approval letter from a company friendly to the scammer stating that you are pre-approved to buy up to $1 Million (for example) in Real Estate using the Shelf Corp (but of course, you need to come up with the $400,000 Down-Payment from somewhere, and the Loan offered is really a Hard Money Loan with a 10%+ Interest Rate and 3+ Points to close. Did you really need a shelf corp to do that – No, you just got ripped-off because you did not read this first!).
- Tax Return/Financials Scam:
This scam can be combined with the two other scams – The only difference here is that the scammers offer you a Shelf Corp that already has Tax Returns and Financial Statements showing Sales and Profit and Bank Deposits. These, of course, are all Fake, Fraudulent, Made-Up Documents that if you actually use to apply for financing can lend YOU in Jail (not the scammers, just you). This one is harder to fall for because you would have to convince yourself to use Fake Tax Returns on a Loan Application, but some people don’t seem to mind and end up losing everything because of this scam. There is also an alternative form of this Scam, in which they actually convince you to file a Fake Tax Return showing High Revenues and a good Profit, but fail to pay the Taxes due. Then, they help you get Funding using those filed Fake Tax Returns, and from the Proceeds, you supposedly pay the Taxes due. However, if you cannot get the Funding, you will owe a lot of money to the IRS, not to mention be liable for filling a Fraudulent Tax Return, which is a Crime. - Secretary of State Data Harvesting Scam:
This is the hardest one to detect. You will often find this one on Craiglist or some other Classified Website, since the scammers are usually just one-man shows with no website. The way this scam works is that the scammer advertises a shelf corporation for a really low price so you think it is such a great deal and buy the Shelf Corp from him. Months or Years later you get a call from someone saying they own the Shelf Corp and that you are not allowed to use it. After a lot of problems you find out this someone was the original incorporator of the Shelf Corp and that he never sold it to you. So, who sold it? The scammers, of course. They sold you a Corporation they did not own, and they did it without the real owner knowing about it. In this case, you would lose all your money and probably any assets you may have put in the name of the Shelf Corporation, and you may even be sued by the real owner.
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