I understand exactly what you are saying and I agree. I believe it does warrant and investigation and judging from the conversations I have had today, they believe it as well.
what I don't know for a fact is this: whether they were actually intending to pass themselves off as a NY corporation and hoped that no one would check (how likely is that, even for a scammer), or that being registered in NY was just an option that they changed their minds on
Huh? Changed their minds? They claim to have been in business in Chicago and New York for 54 years.