AUGUSTA — As the new year begins and many Mainers are looking to renew registrations or conduct other business online, Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap is reminding all Maine residents to be vigilant in accessing state services only via the http://www.maine.gov/portal/index.html .

All state agencies and their online services can be accessed by typing in http://www.maine.gov/portal/index.html in your browser's URL address bar (at the very top of the browser window). This address should be typed in directly, as it is the safest way to access Maine government services.

Any other website that is not accessed via the http://www.maine.gov/portal/index.html website may have incorrect information or direct users to pay for services that the state does not require, or for which the state does not actually charge a fee.

"When people search for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles online, for example, often what pops up in the search engine is a for-profit website that charges people to access services that we provide for free," said Secretary Dunlap. "It's not necessarily illegal, but it sure is misleading."

The online service provider for state agencies is the Information Resource of Maine, known as "InforME," which manages the official State of Maine website. Online transactions via http://www.maine.gov/portal/index.html direct users to the "Informe.org" websites, which are legitimate and secure.

For the Department of the Secretary of State, the website is http://www.maine.gov/sos/ . The department oversees the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Maine State Archives, and the Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions. The department offers many online services at http://maine.gov/sos/online_services/ using the secure InforME portal, including driver license and registration renewals, replacement titles and oversize permits through the BMV; and corporate filings through CEC.