Companies House is currently working to improve the accuracy and quality of the data on its registers, in line with the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which aims to strengthen systems for collecting, accessing and displaying information about UK companies and limited partnerships and about the ownership of UK real estate by overseas entities.
This increased pressure for disclosure of information means there are a lot of unfamiliar procedures and schedules for a company’s directors, officers and shareholders to contend with, which can put them at an increased risk of fraud and identity theft. So, it is essential to be vigilant and keep yourself and your company protected from scams.
Companies House warns business owners, directors and officers to be aware of scam telephone calls, emails and letters, which can often be highly convincing at first glance.
It advises that it would never contact businesses and individuals by email or telephone to ask for secure information about a company, such as authentication codes. It also advises businesses and individuals never to open any attachments, scan a QR code, make any payments, or provide any personal or company filing details.
Below is a list of some of the recent scams that Companies House has issued warnings about:
Scam Telephone Calls
- Late filing penalty payment – Companies have been contacted asking for payment of a late filing penalty over the telephone. Companies House will never contact you for immediate payment of a late filing penalty or request payment of a nominal fee to place a hold on any recovery action. Payment plans are set up with the agreement of the manager dealing with your late filing penalty query. Companies House will not cold call you to take a payment.
- Asking for your authentication code – Companies House will never ask for your authentication code over the phone.
- Asking for directors’ details – Companies have been telephoned by people claiming to be from Companies House, who request details of their company’s directors. After being advised there’s a discrepancy with the information held on the register, the caller requests information such as full dates of birth for directors. Companies House will never contact you by telephone to find out who your officers are or ask for secure information.
Scam Emails
These emails are not sent by Companies House. Some might have an attachment, such as a Word document, and may ask you to enter an authorisation code. Do not reply to them, open any attachments or click on any links. Companies House will never ask for your authentication code.
- Phishing scam about your WebFiling account – scam email sent from the email domain @libero.it about “important matters related to your Companies House WebFiling account”.
- Scam emails about online identification – these emails claim to be from Companies House and ask you to complete online identification.
- Scam email about a company complaint – scam emails impersonating Companies House about company complaints.
- Scam email request to avoid legal action – suspicious emails claiming to be from Companies House and asking customers to make a correction.
- Scam email request to use an a-Sign platform to download documents – phishing emails in the form of a request to download documents about the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill second reading.
- Phishing scam with subject line ‘Hundreds of phone calls and emails have been sent in the name of your company – Notice #’ – scam email that claims that hundreds of phone calls and emails have been sent in your company name. It asks customers to click a link to see what type of information has been sent.
- Phishing scam asking to verify your identity – scam emails from “noreply@companieshousel.ink” asking to ‘Verify your identity by Friday, Feb 8”.
- Investigations and Enforcement Services emails – scam emails claiming to be from the ‘Investigations and Enforcement Services at Companies House’. The email says it’s automatically generated in response to a complaint about a company. Customers are asked to view an attached document. This document has been shown to contain malware; do not open this attachment.
- Scam request to download a copy of an application – scam emails that appear to come from a valid Companies House email address but do not.
- Scam ‘Document Order’ emails – scam emails that appear to come from a valid Companies House email address but do not. You’ll only receive a document order email from Companies House if you’ve requested a copy of current company information using our online filing service. Genuine document order emails from Companies House contain your company name and number under the ‘Order detail’ heading, and a reference to the attached PDF of company information. The scam emails do not contain this individual company information, and the attachment is not in a PDF format.
- Scam online filing submission emails – scam emails that claim to be a response to an online filing submission and ask you to check an attachment to confirm acceptance or rejection. Genuine emails from Companies House will inform you whether a submission has been accepted or rejected within the body of the email.
- Scam eReminder requests for accounts – phishing emails in the form of an email reminder to submit accounts and stating: ‘Please find information in the following link regarding your Company’s annual accounts.’ The link downloads a zip-file onto your device.
- Scam requests to verify your Companies House password – scam email requests asking recipients to validate their Companies House email address and password. If you’re not expecting to receive an email to reset your password it may be a scam. If the link doesn’t contain ‘gov.uk’ within the address, it’s not a Companies House page and could be a scam.
If you receive any suspicious emails, forward them to phishing@companieshouse.gov.uk as soon as possible. Then delete the email from all mailboxes, including your deleted items.
Scam Letters
- Letter about ‘payment code’ – These are scam letters asking for payment. Do not visit any webpage or QR code links, and do not make any payments to the details shown.
- Letter from ‘Company Registry’ asking for payment – a scam letter from a sender called “Company Registry” asking for payment to confirm company details and activate a secure vault. This is a scam – do not send any money to the bank account shown.
- Letters from prosecuting solicitors asking for payment – a scam letter that appears to be from Companies House prosecuting solicitors, which asks for payment into a bank account to clear an outstanding invoice for ‘prior penalty negotiations’. Never pay any money into the bank account shown. Companies House does not issue these letters.
- Scam invoice asking for payment for company registration – an invoice claiming to be from Companies House, which asks for payment of a balance shown in dollars, and is addressed from ‘Government Digital Service, Caroline Street, Birmingham’. Never pay any money to the sender. These invoices are not from Companies House.
- Company register payment requests – Companies registered at Companies House are receiving notifications from organisations that are not connected to or endorsed by either Companies House or the UK government, asking for money to maintain their company on a register. The fee requested is not required to keep the company registered at Companies House.
Sovereign Corporate & Trustee Services Limited
Sovereign Corporate & Trustee Services Limited (SCATS) is supervised by HMRC for AML and an -Assured Agent for Companies House. We’re heavily involved in assisting UK businesses and individuals fulfil their new disclosure requirements and in undertaking the verification checks that are needed.
There’s a lot to do – new processes, account filings and verifications – so if you have received any suspicious calls, emails or letters asking for any personal or company filing details or to click links or make payments, please be alert and do not hesitate to get in contact with us for further assistance.
Contact Sovereign Corporate & Trustee Services Limited below.
