Corporate Compliance Filings - New corporation gets duped by this scame! Sacramento California

AS if I wasn't busy enough getting my business off the ground, I have to deal with this. I too filled out what looked like an official form and sent a check in for $175. I happened to contact my lawyer around the same time and he sent me the URL to the ACTUAL link I should use to file in California: sos.ca.gov/business then click on 'e-file' on the left: businessfilings.sos.ca.gov/

costs all of $25

I put a stop payment on the $175 check for a fee of $12.75. Money well spent. My lawyer did mention that some of these guys are so obnoxious that they can cause credit problems. His words exactly:
**Warning: I must inform you of potential credit risk of "stop payment orders" if the people you sent this too are not very ethical. When the mail is received the checks are normally separated from the forms and deposited immediately. The forms go to a different department and get processed. They may claim that they did the work you ordered and threaten to collect from you. This is the risk you're taking by putting the stop payment that I needed to inform you of**

Anyway, good luck to you all. I learned the hard way.

Firecracker
Palo Alto, California
U.S.A.