The annual registration renewal is something anyone can do for their own business on a cell phone in under 10 minutes (first time, less after that) at no charge. This shady outfit sending the notices wanted something like $100 bucks to do it for you, and they have a very shady way of wording the notice to make it seem like you really ought to send them the money. They don't come out and lie in a way you could prosecute -- but they rely on the fact that a lot of people struggle with bureaucratic forms, and are under such pressure and tension when they think about doing anything involving government that they lose their natural skepticism and thus can be scammed.
I thought that maybe the popularity of my warning had helped put them out of business, but in today's mail, I see that they're back. The latest version of the form is similar -- it's still designed to create fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the reader, so that a certain number of them will go "Oh what the hell, I'll just send them the money and they can take care of it."
If you get one of these, throw it away. To renew your registration, just go to the Secretary of State's online renewal site and take care of it yourself.
Here's what this year's bait for the scam looks like (I added the "NOT APPROVED" stamps). If you're in a business or nonprofit, you have much better things to do with your money than pay someone $100 or more to do something in under five minutes you can easily do yourself in under three.