We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
Companies House aiding fraudsters
discordian
Posts: 8 Forumite
Firstly, let me say that this falls into the area of an irritant rather than something that might be financially damaging. Nevertheless I've got a bee in my bonnet about it now, so it's going to get sorted one way or the other.
Over the course of the past 2.5 weeks two fake companies, registered to persons having Chinese names, have been registered to my home address, and three more have sprung up on our street.
These turn of events have been an eye opener for me, as I'd heard about the epidemic of fake companies that have been plaguing whole streets.
Now it was my turn to experience the 'fun' of what these miscreants get up to.
I'm fairly familiar with checking Companies House, so getting the details of the fake companies was easy, as was getting in contact with CH to try & sort the matter out.
On the first occasion they responded within a couple of hours to ask me to prove that the use of my address was indeed fraudulent (!) and provide evidence that I was linked to that address.
It was no great stress to provide either of those two pieces of evidence, so a case was opened & I was told they'd get back to me within 30 days (yeah right!).
For the fun of it I also wrote to my MP to get him on the case. I also told our neighbours about the fake company setup at theirs.
Then, 17 days later, a second fake company appeared at our address, registered by the same person who had set one up at our next door neighbours!
I swung into action again, this time armed with the knowledge of what to send to CH to get the process started.
Within a few hours I received another case number, which 17 days later was bigger by 21000!
So now I'm waiting. I don't doubt more companies will spring up on our street.
What I can't really fathom are their motivations & why they so indiscreetly target lots of houses on the same street?
What I know for sure is though is that Companies House are useless! They're practically aiding & abetting fraudsters and they're doing sod all to stop the flood of fake companies being setup across the UK.
Yes, new legislation has been brought in but it's too little, too late & it's not even fully implemented yet.
Checks on the identity of people setting up companies are not being carried out.
The only way that we knew a fake company had been setup at our house was because we received a letter from an online business banking service!
Yes, a few days later we did get a letter from CH, with details about registering for their online portal, but it was too late as the company had already been setup!
It doesn't take a genius to work out how to sort this problem. Send out a confirmation letter to the registered address BEFORE allowing the company to be setup!
Judging by the number of fake company cases (estimated to be in 20% in 2022) & what must be a huge number of complaints to CH you'd think they'd cotton on that there must be an easier way to stop this from happening and save everyone a load of hassle!
Whilst I'm sure I'll get the two fake companies removed from my address eventually. I reckon, like a game of whack-a-mole, more will just pop up.
For what little good it will do, as well as the emails I've sent to CH, I've also written a letter to them.
My argument being this, these fraudsters have no right to use my address but NEITHER does CH!
I've told them that in future they don't have my authorization to use my address to register companies, unless it's done by someone who lives there, i.e. is on the electoral register.
I've also said they aren't allowed to register any companies without writing to me first.
Ok, I'm not (that) daft or mad to believe this tactic will actually work BUT it might just get their attention to bump me up the queue and if you don't ask/demand you don't get.
IMO Companies House really need a boot up the backside to get their house in order. What they're letting fraudsters get away with is easily preventable but they just don't seem to see the scale of the problem, unless they're just not bothered?
What's needed is for all the victims of these fraudsters/Companies House to get together to try & get some action. If you're a victim writing to your MP is a start but I'm open to suggestions.
Rant over!
Over the course of the past 2.5 weeks two fake companies, registered to persons having Chinese names, have been registered to my home address, and three more have sprung up on our street.
These turn of events have been an eye opener for me, as I'd heard about the epidemic of fake companies that have been plaguing whole streets.
Now it was my turn to experience the 'fun' of what these miscreants get up to.
I'm fairly familiar with checking Companies House, so getting the details of the fake companies was easy, as was getting in contact with CH to try & sort the matter out.
On the first occasion they responded within a couple of hours to ask me to prove that the use of my address was indeed fraudulent (!) and provide evidence that I was linked to that address.
It was no great stress to provide either of those two pieces of evidence, so a case was opened & I was told they'd get back to me within 30 days (yeah right!).
For the fun of it I also wrote to my MP to get him on the case. I also told our neighbours about the fake company setup at theirs.
Then, 17 days later, a second fake company appeared at our address, registered by the same person who had set one up at our next door neighbours!
I swung into action again, this time armed with the knowledge of what to send to CH to get the process started.
Within a few hours I received another case number, which 17 days later was bigger by 21000!
So now I'm waiting. I don't doubt more companies will spring up on our street.
What I can't really fathom are their motivations & why they so indiscreetly target lots of houses on the same street?
What I know for sure is though is that Companies House are useless! They're practically aiding & abetting fraudsters and they're doing sod all to stop the flood of fake companies being setup across the UK.
Yes, new legislation has been brought in but it's too little, too late & it's not even fully implemented yet.
Checks on the identity of people setting up companies are not being carried out.
The only way that we knew a fake company had been setup at our house was because we received a letter from an online business banking service!
Yes, a few days later we did get a letter from CH, with details about registering for their online portal, but it was too late as the company had already been setup!
It doesn't take a genius to work out how to sort this problem. Send out a confirmation letter to the registered address BEFORE allowing the company to be setup!
Judging by the number of fake company cases (estimated to be in 20% in 2022) & what must be a huge number of complaints to CH you'd think they'd cotton on that there must be an easier way to stop this from happening and save everyone a load of hassle!
Whilst I'm sure I'll get the two fake companies removed from my address eventually. I reckon, like a game of whack-a-mole, more will just pop up.
For what little good it will do, as well as the emails I've sent to CH, I've also written a letter to them.
My argument being this, these fraudsters have no right to use my address but NEITHER does CH!
I've told them that in future they don't have my authorization to use my address to register companies, unless it's done by someone who lives there, i.e. is on the electoral register.
I've also said they aren't allowed to register any companies without writing to me first.
Ok, I'm not (that) daft or mad to believe this tactic will actually work BUT it might just get their attention to bump me up the queue and if you don't ask/demand you don't get.
IMO Companies House really need a boot up the backside to get their house in order. What they're letting fraudsters get away with is easily preventable but they just don't seem to see the scale of the problem, unless they're just not bothered?
What's needed is for all the victims of these fraudsters/Companies House to get together to try & get some action. If you're a victim writing to your MP is a start but I'm open to suggestions.
Rant over!
5
Comments
-
This might be of interest to you: Changes to UK company law - Changes to UK company lawThe comments I post are my personal opinion. While I try to check everything is correct before posting, I can and do make mistakes, so always try to check official information sources before relying on my posts.2
-
I am aware of the, so called, changes to the law thx.As the situation currently stands nothing has changed for the better. The fraudsters are still registering fake companies, with help of CH, & ordinary people have to suffer.0
-
It's too little, too late unfortunately. The scale of this fraudulent activity is widespread and estimated for 2022 at least to compromise around 20% of companies registered with CH.
Despite the new legislation nothing has changed. CH house unbelieveably still haven't brought in ID checks.
The ordinary victims who are suffering this scourge deserve protection from fraudsters but Companies House is too inept to handle the problem it seems.
And for those who might try to play down the seriousness of this problem, tell that to a vulnerable person who is targetted, or the man from Cardiff who got tax bills for 11000 fake Chinese firms.
0 -
Does this really belong in the "Praise, vents and warnings" area of the forum?
0 -
Grumpy_chap said:Does this really belong in the "Praise, vents and warnings" area of the forum?
Yes, of course.
If it sticks, force it.
If it breaks, well it wasn't working right anyway.2 -
I'm not too worried about that, as I think it's unlikely but my wife is worried sick. Personally I'm up for the challenge of getting this stopped, for myself & for anyone else it might happen to, which is why I've posted here.
Hundreds, if not thousands of people, some elderly & vulnerable, have been affected by this.
It could have all been easily prevented by CH but they've done little to prevent it & it's still going on.2 -
In the game of chess you can never let your adversary see your pieces0
-
So my main question/problem is, what do people like me who've got this problem do?
I've raised it with CH, written to my MP & then escalated it the complaint stage with CH.
It's really CH's problem, not mine but they're just dragging their feet. They could prevent this so easily but won't.
Some action needs to be taken to end this fraud once & all.2 -
Thanks, and I see it is now.Ectophile said:Grumpy_chap said:Does this really belong in the "Praise, vents and warnings" area of the forum?
Yes, of course.
It was originally elsewhere when I put the comment suggesting "P, v & w" as the correct location.3 -
Interesting article from Nov 22. Basically nothing has changed despite all the problems & promises.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/08/companies-house-is-dysfunctional-and-facilitating-mps-told1
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 349.8K Banking & Borrowing
- 252.6K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453K Spending & Discounts
- 242.7K Work, Benefits & Business
- 619.5K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.4K Life & Family
- 255.7K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards