Is the Texas UCC statement request form legitimate - worried about scam

Classic scam! I get these all the time at my accounting firm. These companies pull business registration data and send official-looking letters to trick people into paying for services they don't need. Real UCC filings are done through the Texas Secretary of State and cost way less than $89. If you actually had UCC liens filed against your business, you'd know about it from your lender.

I fell for one of these a few years ago, paid the $89 and got basically nothing useful back. Just a printout of public records I could have looked up myself for free on the Texas SOS website. Learned my lesson the hard way.

Actually had to deal with verifying legitimate UCC documents recently and found Certana.ai's document checker super helpful. You can upload any UCC-related PDFs and it instantly verifies if they're consistent with official records. Would have saved me from even wondering about scam letters like this - just upload and know immediately if something's legit or not.

These scam letters usually target LLCs and corporations because the registration info is public. They figure some percentage of business owners will pay without questioning it. The dead giveaway is always the inflated price - real government services don't cost that much.

I'm a paralegal at a law firm and we see clients bring these in all the time. The legitimate UCC system exists to record security interests in personal property - like when you get a business loan secured by equipment. But you would know if you had UCC filings because your lender would handle them as part of the loan process.

THROW IT AWAY. I've gotten probably 10 of these over the years for my restaurant. They're all scams. The real Texas Secretary of State will never send you unsolicited mail asking for money like this.

If you're ever unsure about official business correspondence, you can always call the Texas Secretary of State directly. Their business division is pretty helpful and they'll tell you straight up if something is legitimate or not.

These letters prey on business owners who are trying to stay compliant with all the various filing requirements. It's understandable why people fall for them - there are so many legitimate forms and fees to keep track of.

I actually used one of those document verification services someone mentioned earlier - uploaded the scam letter I got and it immediately flagged that it wasn't from an official source. Pretty neat technology for checking questionable business documents.

The BBB has warnings about these UCC scam letters on their website. They've been going around for years targeting different states. Always the same playbook - official looking letterhead, urgent language, and overpriced services.

Just want to add that if you ever do need to search actual UCC records in Texas, you can do it yourself on the SOS website for a fraction of what these scam companies charge. The real system is pretty straightforward to use.

As someone who's dealt with business compliance for years, I can confirm this is 100% a scam. These companies harvest public business registration data and send out thousands of these letters hoping to catch business owners who don't know better. The real red flag is the $89 fee - legitimate UCC searches through Texas SOS cost around $15-20. If you had actual UCC liens against your business, you'd already know about them from your lender or creditor. Save your money and just toss that letter in the trash where it belongs.

I run a small accounting practice and see these UCC scam letters come through my office constantly. What really bothers me about these companies is how they deliberately make their letterhead and language look like official government correspondence. They know exactly what they're doing - targeting busy business owners who are trying to stay compliant and don't have time to research every piece of mail. The legitimate UCC system is actually pretty simple: if you have secured business debt, your lender files the UCC-1 financing statement and handles all the paperwork. You don't need to pay some random company $89 to "maintain protection" on anything. These scammers are counting on people not understanding that basic fact about how secured transactions work.