Senator Rulli, Secretary LaRose introduce legislation to protect Ohio businesses from scams

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio Senator, Michael Rulli along with Ohio Secretary of State, Frank LaRose introduced legislation on Tuesday to protect businesses from fraud, theft and scams.
Senate Bill 98 addresses three areas of major concern Rulli says are causing "great harm" to entrepreneurs including business identity theft, fraudulent business findings and deceptive mailings designed to trick entrepreneurs.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, one out of every 10 people is a victim of identity theft, with thieves now targeting businesses at an "alarming rate" according to a press release.
This legislation would significantly reduce the cost and time for victims to get resolutions by allowing individuals and businesses to report when scammers have fraudulently used someone else's address or personal information to form a new business or has taken over a legitimate business filing in an attempt to leverage it for fraud.
The complaint would be forwarded to the Ohio Attorney General for investigation, and if deemed fraudulent, the Secretary of State would cancel the fraudulent filing and redact the victim's information.
According to a press release, there is no clear path for victims to report scammers hijacking their personal information to form fraudulent new businesses under current law.
That's why this legislation would establish a requirement to use the mailing address of the agent's primary residence in Ohio or usual place of business. This will allow process servers to physically serve documents to a registered agent.
In addition, the legislation would reduce the ability to reinstate a canceled business entity without proper authority by suspending the filing ability for a canceled entity if it has been canceled for at least two years.
Scammers often target businesses with misleading mailers impersonating government departments charging large amounts of money for services that are free or available at a much lower cost.
Common solicitations include expedited filings, UCC statement request forms, annual reports, certificates of good standing and employee identification numbers.
This legislation would require information on solicitations sent to business owners that makes it perfectly clear it is not coming from a government agency.
"We believe these simple but sensible reforms will provide highly effective solutions to problems we simply can't let get out of hand. These reforms will further help Ohioans unleash their tremendous potential to succeed, realize the American Dream, and make our great state even greater," Senator Rulli said