Sounds Fishy?

We received a letter in the mail last week that seemed a little fishy to me.  It was an expiration notice.  To remain in compliance we needed to complete the form and send a check for $150 in the enclosed envelope.  The letter contained phrases like:

"Pursuant to California Business and Professions Code..."
"California Law Requires You..."

We have a personal business with the state of California, but I had already paid our taxes for this year.  At the bottom of the form was this sentence:

"This product or service has not been approved or endorsed by any government agency, and this offer is not being made by an agency of the government."

WHAT?!?! This just smelled fishy to me, so I turned to my friend Google.  I first typed in the form number (CA-5.)   DFEC CA-5, Claim for Compensation by Widow, Widower, and/or Children.  Quite a bit different than the form I received!

My next step was to Google the phone number on the form (916-480-9006.)  The fifth link on the page was for The Scam Pages of Alexis Wilke.  This confirmed my suspicions - this letter was a complete fraud!

This is not the first time we've received this type of a message.  We've received emails and voice mails claiming to be our bank or mortgage lender or insurance company.  The quickest way to check the validity of something like this is to Google the phone number provided.  I have done this several times and found fake numbers.

There are a lot of people out there try to rip you off.  Be safe with your personal information, and if something smells fishy, it probably is!