I know. I looked.
I visited 8 suspected fraudsters.
Why would anyone claim an office location if they do not have an office?
If you are new to this series, this is why I call them CYBER CRIME FRAUDSTERS. I have seen time and time again, suspect companies do not really have a physical location. Just really good web sites…
They are becoming more adept. I used drive to find empty lots. Non-existent addresses. Closed retail stores. P.O. boxes. Nowadays they have real addresses – but still NO ONE IS HOME. NOBODY.
Sumscriber wrote an article titled, “How to Check if a Company is Legit in 2025: A Step-By-Step Guide” mentioning the “no physical presence” aspect where many scamsters tip themselves off to the diligent. Please see: https://sumsub.com/blog/how-to-check-if-a-company-is-legit/.
The cost, (curse), of writing these articles means I have to actually go in person to verify IF a newly discovered “low fee” trademark web site really has an office location.
After attending a Commonwealth Club, (https://www.commonwealthclub.org/), event for Alex Vindman on Values, Realism, and U.S. National Security, I found myself smack dab in the heart of the City. Soooo very close to 8 trademark scam fraud web sites claiming to have San Francisco locations. Why not stop by to say “Hi”?!
Just a 1/2 mile away was USA TRADEMARK CONSULTANTS, (https://usatrademarkconsultants.com/) at “350 California St 4th floor, San Francisco, CA 94104, United States”. This is an incredible, modern, high rise. I am not sure so many of these scams say “United States” in their address. Also, why do they often say they have an entire floor? In any case, while parked in a taxi zone, (my idea to think like a scammer, to catch a scammer & save $5), I ran inside and asked security if they had even heard of them. NOPE. There is a tenant who has the entire 4th floor, 9ZERO, See https://9zero.com/san-francisco. I did not bother them. Let them stay focused on climate change. 0 for 1.
A tenth of a mile away, or a mile if driving, were three more locations, all close to one of my favorite hotels The Palace at https://www.sfpalace.com/. This time I sprung for parking to visit the hotel and walk to check on the scammers.
My next stop was a two-for-one, TRADEMARK IMPULSE & TRADEMARK SHIELD PRO. Both are rumored on their web sites to be at “44 Tehama St San Francisco, CA 94105”.
What a coincidence! See: https://www.trademarkimpulse.com/ & https://www.trademarkshieldpro.com/. What I found was an empty first floor with the lights on. When a janitor appeared, I knocked – a lot – to get his attention. He too said, NOPE. He never heard of either scammer. 0 for 3.
Back towards The Palace was supposed to be both IMPERIAL TRADEMARKS & TRADEMARK PROTEGE both at “649 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA”. See: https://www.imperialtrademarks.com/ and https://www.trademarksprotege.com/.
Another coincidence! In this case a narrow 3-story building. I chose to climb the stairs for more steps to see each floor. The Office manager’s office had a sign saying “back in 10 minutes”. Too long. I walked the halls. I found a woman with her office door open. She laughed then I mentioned the 10-minute sign, saying they’d been out for 2 years. She had no idea who the scammer was. Surprise! 0 for 5.
Did I say The Palace is a wonderful hotel?
Next, TRADEMARK SECURE, located at “The Flood Building, 870 Market St #1152, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA and 1 Eglinton Ave E Suite 801, Toronto, ON M4s 2B1, Canada“. Anyone in Toronto?! As far as San Francisco, what an incredible, iconic building! Check it out @ https://floodbuilding.com/. Lots of history at The Flood building. Coincidentally I learned SF Chronicle columnist, also iconic, Herb Caen, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Caen), used to dodge the rain while cutting through the lobby on the way to and from work. Herb would often muse about curious business start-ups. We approached him once in the 1990’s to offer examples of odd business names we had discovered in our direct mail campaigns in line with what he wrote about.
He told us to “Get lost!”.
In any case, Suite 1152 was closed. It is an unrelated employment law office https://workplacelegalpc.com/office/san-francisco/. Not a trademark company. Security said they never heard of said scammer. I am not kidding. 0 for 6.
Then is TRADEMARK CENTRAL US at https://www.trademarkcentralus.info/ across the street from the Transamerica Pyramid which used to rule the SF skyline before the Salesforce Tower. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transamerica_Pyramid. The address is claimed to be “655 Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA 94111, United States”. This name is so ridiculous I had to say it 5 times to the 2 receptionists before they understood what I was saying. When they did understand they politely said they were not tenants, on any of the 26 floors. They had not heard of them. 0 for 7.
Did you know a 10-ounce latte at the Pyramid Cafe costs $8.53?
Then I tipped $1. I tell you; I am starting to lose it…
Lastly, thankfully on the way home off I-280 is TRADEMARK VISION USA. Please see: https://www.trademarkcentralus.info/ located at “20 Grafton Ave, San Francisco, CA 94112, USA”. A modest home, in a modest neighborhood, luckily for them the lights were out. No one was home. I’ll take a wild leap and say this is yet another stolen address. Maybe I’ll go back. For now, 0 for 8.
——-
FACT: There are maybe 8 legitimate trademark services in the entire USA.
The only compliment I can offer is none of their web sites claimed to be in Frisco. Sad.
Keep the scammer complaints coming!
Keep helping us report each and every fraudster!
———-
Thank you,
Chris DeMassa, Founder – 650-948-0530
Email: staff@tmexpress.com
Web Site: tmexpress.com
Order: https://www.tmexpress.com/order-my-trademark
Creative Naming – http://miramark.com/nameit/
Zoom Anytime – https://bit.ly/TradeMarkZoomMeeting
Calendly Meeting – https://calendly.com/tmexpress/15min
TM®SM Crash Course – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gWaAJR5L18
12 Expert Trademark Attorney Network Included.
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdemassa/
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Blog Articles – https://tmexpress.com/trademark-blog/
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