Police warning over fraudulent letters claiming to be from Companies House

Home owners are getting letters confirming the registration of a company using their address.

The home has been falsely registered at Companies House without the occupant’s knowledge.

Companies House is a registry of company information. They carry out basic checks on documents received to make sure that they have been fully completed and signed, but they do not have the statutory power or capability to verify the accuracy of the information that companies send to them.

Companies House issued the following guidance to reassure the public and help clamp down on fraud and false address registration using the following means;

• Compulsory identity verification to be introduced to help trace people who are committing fraud or money laundering
• Companies House will be given greater powers to query, investigate and remove false information
• changes will give businesses confidence in who they are doing business with, with greater accuracy of data on the register, without impacting the speed of service.