Maine Evaluating a Corporate Monitoring Service

Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers is exploring the possibility of offering an online corporate monitoring and notification service to help business entities combat corporate identity theft.

This service would allow businesses to sign up to monitor a corporation registered with the Maine Secretary of State’s Office and receive notifications of any modifications to corporate filings for that entity. The service would check for changes daily and send notification when any changes have occurred.

Corporate identity theft, also called business identity theft, occurs when a thief uses a corporation’s name to obtain fraudulent lines of credit, to gain access to corporate credit cards, to purchase expensive goods, or even to bill a business’ legitimate clients for products or services.

In many cases, corporate filing documents at the Secretary of State’s Office are the starting point for thieves attempting to steal a company’s identity.  Criminals understand that documents and records on file with the Secretary of State are used to prove existence, obtain lines of credit and designate business officers. While this is a useful, “one stop shop” for business owners, it can also be a vulnerability.

The Secretary of State is asking for the user’s opinion about a possible corporate identity theft monitoring service by completing our five-minute survey available at: http://www.maine.gov/online/monitoringsurvey