Fraudulent Company Registration - Why and what to do?

critical_badger

Hi,
My wife received a letter recently notifying her that she was director and sole officer of a newly formed company. Company address looks to be residential and not known to us (in a different town) but notification was sent to my wife so at the very least our address was submitted in the process and the D.o.B is correct MM/YYYY. My wife has had a company in the past but it is long since dissolved. A quick call to Companies House was not very revealing but indicated that whatever ID they require is submitted electronically and largely "taken at face value" whatever that means.
So we have done the following: filled in a report at Fraud Action - so have a crime number, requested Companies House do an investigation via their form, submitted an RP06 which is to get her struck from the register of the company. We also both started monitoring our credit rating using clearscore - which is free but you get what you pay for sometimes.
So my questions are these. Is there anything more we should be doing? What is the perpetrator hoping to achieve, i.e. what is this usually a precursor to? Are we at any immediate financial risk?
Thanks in advance
cb

[Deleted User]

critical_badger said:

We also both started monitoring our credit rating using clearscore - which is free but you get what you pay for sometimes.

Not sure what you mean by that, but she should be checking her three credit files, rather than any ratings.

That's where any credit applications or erroneous accounts will appear.

Once you've done that, you may want to consider a protective CIFAS registration.

critical_badger

Deleted_User said:

critical_badger said:

We also both started monitoring our credit rating using clearscore - which is free but you get what you pay for sometimes.

Not sure what you mean by that, but she should be checking her three credit files, rather than any ratings.

That's where any credit applications or erroneous accounts will appear.

Once you've done that, you may want to consider a protective CIFAS registration.

ClearScore gives a score but it does show underlying data too: accounts, linked addresses, loan applications. But it says it sources only from Equifax. When you say "3 files" are you referring to other credit reference agencies? Not heard of CIFAS so thanks for the pointer.
cb

DCFC79

critical_badger said:

Deleted_User said:

critical_badger said:

We also both started monitoring our credit rating using clearscore - which is free but you get what you pay for sometimes.

Not sure what you mean by that, but she should be checking her three credit files, rather than any ratings.

That's where any credit applications or erroneous accounts will appear.

Once you've done that, you may want to consider a protective CIFAS registration.

ClearScore gives a score but it does show underlying data too: accounts, linked addresses, loan applications. But it says it sources only from Equifax. When you say "3 files" are you referring to other credit reference agencies? Not heard of CIFAS so thanks for the pointer.
cb

Don't read too much in the score as only you can see it, the history is whats important.

maxximus75

Remember, if you are monitoring your credit reports it is best to monitor at least the three main credit bureaus... TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.

sasha20

That seems like a very odd and somewhat unusual fraud to commit. Not quite sure what the intent is here - to load up on some form of business finance? But nobody will lend to a new business without a lot of money behind them anyway.

I suspect that maybe somebody somewhere made a mistake either in the submission process or some back-end process and it may not be as malicious as it sounds. Just not sure why you'd go about setting up a company in somebody else's name when they'd clearly know about it and you can't really do much with a registered company name.

critical_badger

sasha20 said:

That seems like a very odd and somewhat unusual fraud to commit. Not quite sure what the intent is here - to load up on some form of business finance? But nobody will lend to a new business without a lot of money behind them anyway.

I suspect that maybe somebody somewhere made a mistake either in the submission process or some back-end process and it may not be as malicious as it sounds. Just not sure why you'd go about setting up a company in somebody else's name when they'd clearly know about it and you can't really do much with a registered company name.

This is my feeling as well. I can’t help but feel I’ve set “the feds” on someone who is themselves victim of a clerical error. That said I’m not expecting much from “the feds” other than the crime number. I guess there is the danger of the company being used as a shell for some kind of laundering so I’ll follow the credit reference advice and keep an eye on things. Companies House has promised a response in 5 dats. Thanks all.