Colorado Secretary of State’s Fraudulent Business Filing Process Showing Immediate Impact

Interagency Process with Attorney General’s Office has Flagged First Fraudulent Entries

Denver, May 5, 2023 - The new tool allowing Coloradans to report fraudulent business filings is already protecting Colorado businesses and individuals. The interagency process, which launched on February 1, 2023, has begun recording and flagging the first examples of fraudulent business filings.

“Protecting hard-working Colorado business owners from the increasing threat of business identity theft is vital,” said Secretary of State Jena Griswold. “Colorado is a great place to own and operate a business, and my office is here to make sure it stays that way.”

The Fraudulent Business Filings tool protects Colorado businesses and individuals by allowing them to report when a bad actor has:

• formed a new business fraudulently using someone else’s address or personal information.
• taken over a legitimate business filing in an attempt to leverage it for fraud.

When the Secretary of State’s office receives a complaint of a suspected fraudulent filing via this new tool, that complaint is referred to the Attorney General’s Office for investigation. If the subsequent investigation determines the business filing to be fraudulent, the Secretary of State’s Office will then redact victim information and flag the record as suspected fraudulent activity.

This interagency process, established as a result of the Combating Business Identity Theft Act (SB22-034), aims to counteract business identity theft in Colorado. Business identity theft is a crime in which, for example, thieves use a business’s identity to establish lines of credit with banks or retailers. With these lines of credit, the identity thieves often then buy items that can be exchanged for cash or sold with relative ease. The damage can be devastating to the victim business, with credit history damage or denial of credit leading to operational problems. 

The Combating Business Identity Theft Act was a priority of Secretary Griswold’s in 2022. The bill passed the Colorado legislature with bipartisan support. It was sponsored by Senator Chris Kolker, Senator Kevin Priola, Representative Shannon Bird, and Representative Shane Sandridge.

Businesses and individuals may file a formal complaint at https://coloradosos.gov/pubs/business/fraudFilingsComplaints.html.

A complaint should only be submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office if one of the following violations from section 7-90-314(1), C.R.S., has occurred:

• A new business was created using someone else’s personal information without their written consent, such as an address or name.
• An existing business record was changed without the written consent of the business owner or representative who has the authority to do so.

The filing of a complaint is not for settling internal disputes between former or current business partners, spouses, family members, friends/acquaintances, co-workers, competitors, etc.

In addition to this resource, the Colorado Secretary of State, the Colorado Attorney General, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation ID Theft Unit provide a Business Identity Theft Resource Guide with the information necessary to avoid and reduce the threat of business identity theft while also assisting businesses that have already fallen victim to these crimes.