Scam Type
Online Purchase Scam
Business Name Used
Imposter Pinnacle Trademark
Date Reported
Oct 17, 2022
Victim Postal Code
90717
Total Dollars Lost
0
Scam Description
I was trying to get my business trademarked and I unknowingly went through a third-party site (Pinnacle Trademark), and I was reached out to from a Steve Miles and was told the breakdown of payment for the initial process of getting my business name and logo trademarked. I am trying to start my small business and doing research on my own and I found Pinnacle Trademark and went with them to help me get my trademark. I then spoke to Steve on the phone, and he told me what I had to pay, and it seemed legitimate as I didn’t know what the real cost for a trademark is as I have never done it before. I send over a total of $2,996 in the beginning to get my business trademarked and even have invoices from it. In the beginning it did seem like a lot of money but again I have never done this before so I didn’t know any better, and they did get my business trademarked and I still didn’t think anything of it, what made me question was once my trademark was accepted (4 months later) Steve called me to state that I now need an attorney to handle any further paperwork from the USPTO and it will be an additional $2,350 for each trade mark (name and logo) so a total of $4700. When I made a comment about how expensive that is he told me I could get a discount from the government of 15% and it would only be $4000. Now I reached out to people that have done trademarking before and they told me it was no more than $800 for a trademark and they believed it was fraud. I then then received a call from another number claiming to be the USPTO (571) 538-4002 and stating I needed to call back.
