Police target £50m business identity theft scam

Police have launched a crackdown on an online identity theft scam targeting businesses registered with Companies House that is estimated to rake in more than £50m a year.

The loophole that allows criminals to access a form on the Companies House website and change the registered office for a limited company without them knowing was highlighted by silicon.com earlier this year.

Using the publicly available head office postal address and registered company number the fraudsters can change the address to a mailbox or a short let residential property, which they can then use to run up huge bills. The first the company is often aware of it is when the debt collectors arrive or legal action is initiated to recover goods.

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has now launched an initiative with Companies House to warn businesses about the scam and advise them how to avoid falling victim to it.

The 'Sterling' project advises businesses to first check their registered details are correct at Companies House and have not been fraudulently changed.

But the main advice is to sign up for the secure online filing service offered by Companies House which uses a password to prevent fraudsters changing any details and an email alert system that warns the password-holder when any changes are made to the registered company details.

Assistant MPS commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said in a statement: "As a result of working together with Companies House this 'Sterling' initiative will have a significant impact by providing a method to prevent company identity fraud and protect businesses from considerable losses through this type of criminal activity."