Fraudulent company using my name and using my address

der_baron

Hi there,

On Monday this week, I received Companies House letters congratulating me on becoming a director; I thought it was a hoax.
The company name is "[MY NAME] PHOTOGRAPHY LTD".
Checked their website and found that the company is real, active set up on the previous Thursday.
The company files show that I am the sole Director, Controller and Shareholder.
The registered address is my personal/residential address.

I immediately contacted Action Fraud who said that it was odd that they'd used my name in the fraudulent company name.
Either way, I now have a National Crime Number.

Onto Companies House, where I submitted a RP06 form, to remove myself as a director.

I also submitted a RP07 form, to try to get my residential address removed. I am not too sure how successful this will be however, as I can only prove that I already live at the address they have on record.

The more worrying part is the Controller and Shareholder details.
Companies House do not have the legal power to remove/change this.
I am told that I have to first draft a Court Order to get this changed.

Question #1
Does anyone have any experience with court orders?
Would I (as an individual) be claiming against Companies House or the fraudulent company that does not exist? If the latter, it would mean that I am in dispute with myself.

I checked my credit score and it was not negatively affected.
I have since taken the steps to protect my personal credit against fraud, by signing up to CIFAS.

I am slightly concerned though of receiving supplier bills in the fraudulent company's name at my home address.
In lieu of any court order, I can only see my course of action to be "Returning to Sender".

Question #2
Has this happened to anyone else, or can anyone give me an advice on how I could protect myself further than I already have?  

Thanks for reading, 

Baz

AJ1992_

You could just close the company down / dissolve it if its all under your name?

der_baron

AJ1992_ said:

You could just close the company down / dissolve it if its all under your name?

I did think of that, but thought that I would then be accepting responsibility/liability for any attempted fraud.
In order to do any of that I would have to submit HMRC forms, under the fraudulent company; and in turn, I'd be committing fraud.

wolfehouse

This topic was on bbc radio 4 ‘you and yours’ very recently
 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-62494987

Devongardener

Maybe contact them via the website under a false name and say you want to book their services and see who replies!   

der_baron

Devongardener said:

Maybe contact them via the website under a false name and say you want to book their services and see who replies!   

There isn't a website for the fraudulent company. I think my best course of action is to serve Companies House with a Court Order.
They said that it is the only way they can remove my details as a person of significate control and shareholder.
They also said that if they saw a draft copy of the application/order; their legal team would be able to provide a letter of no-objection to present to the court.
This way I should be able to remove my association and address from the company register.
It looks like identity fraud, as an individual must use a Government Gateway ID to use the Companies House online application form. I've asked HMRC to provide me with any duplicate account IDs that use my name and address. I could then give this to Action Fraud, in the hope they could trace the authenticated email address/mobile number back to whoever did it. Bit of a long shot, but as long as I can get them to strike me off the company's record, I don't care.

Mistral001

There was a piece on Radio Four, You and Yours a few weeks ago about this subject.  Here is a link to the the particular episode:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001cq3d.  The relevant article starts at about 14:20 mins.  The article lasts about 11 mins.  Some surprising stuff in it.

The most surprising thing that I learned from the programme, was that Companies House do not do any checks on whether the applicant actually lives at, or has a business at, the address given on the application form.

.

James

Here's how you can deter someone from pretending to be you for things like opening bank accounts, obtaining loans or other types of credit using your personal information.

Check out the following.

Identity Fraud - A Solution

How to (MyPAS)

Hope this helps or makes you think.

KazzyXXX

Hi there, I know exactly how you feel!

Last year a Chinese resident set up a company using my home address, they have no website, no email no details at all but were allowed to set up at Companies House. After 6 months I managed to get Companies House to change to the default address, notified HMRC, set up an account with Clearscore, registered with the land registry and continue to search for the company to make sure my address is not showing.

What I hadn't realised at the time is that the Chinese resident (the Person with Significant Control (PSC) & shareholder)  has also used my home address, Companies House has said that I would need a court order to remove my address, their wording was: 

I understand this will be disappointing and I am sorry that we cannot remove the information for you. However, it may be possible to remove the information by providing us with a suitably worded court order. 

 If you do decide to explore this avenue, our legal team would appreciate sight of the proposed draft order and any supporting evidence so they can provide you with a letter of non-objection which can be presented to the Court to show the Registrar’s standing in this matter.   

Please note, acceptance of a court order by Companies House will result in the order being placed on the public register. (Not sure what this implies)

So I have tried to contact a couple of local Solicitor's who don't seem to be interested! Can I get a court order template so that I don't have to pay a solicitor? So I have had this worry for nearly a year now not knowing what to do, if they don't file accounts what happens then? Do I just leave it and hope for the best?

We use ebay and of course order from China, so think this may be how our address was used. Very worrying that anyone can set up at companies house using your details with no evidence required for a small cost.

This is making me feel ill!

Jmcl1

I have the same problem and have even told I need a court order. 

So far through searching I think I need to file a N208 form at County Court. Did either of you have any luck on what exactly the claim needs to be, or any success in getting the court order?