Company registered at my address fraudulently

keef247 said:
Ah damn, the radio shows were legendary, how they got away with saying what they did including swearing on daytime radio was outstanding, and refreshing versus the crap you hear on 99% radio stations/along with the fake boring hosts :rolleyes:

Yeah it's just the first thing the springs to my mind, as he doesn't seem to care about the law and often mentioned how he'd open other peoples mail on the basis that they shouldn't have sent it here should they! Haha!
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From what I can tell, it's a common misconception, if it's landed through your letterbox you are allowed to open it, as long as your intent isn't malicious in doing so.

If I wind up with a letter for a neighbour I'll just hold it, doesn't really seem to happen often though. Get the odd parcel in for them.

If it's for previous owners, I RTS it as I know who they are.

Anything else I think is relatively fair game for opening :)
 
I had an old building firm registered to my home address and was showing up on Google maps. Took them 2 years and about 10 reports with photos to prove it.
Bloody annoying. No further implications.

FML it still shows up on parasitic advertising 3rd party local crap websites
 
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darkgen said:
I'm curious. Do credit companies auto link properties to the registered named individual even when debt is created and accrued just to the property alone?
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That’s a myth. Some people think an address can get “blacklisted” or have adverse credit against them which effects everyone at the address.

Experian, equifax and TransUnion use a persons name, date of birth and their address to link your credit file together.

If I registered myself at your address, signed a credit agreement, and defaulted, the default marker goes against my file.

All an address really does is act as further confirmation of identity. It’s why it’s useful to be registered on the electoral roll as proof you live there.

It would have zero adverse implications on you, unless we were financially linked.

It’s the same principle as if one of your children (who lived at your address) got themselves into debt and then declared themselves bankrupt.

While they would find it impossible to get credit for 6 years until the bankruptcy dropped off, it wouldn’t impact your ability to obtain credit at all.
 
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For both of the letters received, I would return them saying "Not at this Address".

Maybe there is also an ombudsman that you can make a complaint to, if Companies House do not resolve it satisfactorily.
 
radderfire said:
For both of the letters received, I would return them saying "Not at this Address".

Maybe there is also an ombudsman that you can make a complaint to, if Companies House do not resolve it satisfactorily.
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I'll follow the process and see, will update here a bit later on as to how it's going :)

RTS is fine but I very much doubt they'll actually do anything with it, if Companies House won't take action without a form (when you tell them it's an error), then an RTS returned letter is not going to set them to taking action for certain.
 
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Efour said:
I had an old building firm registered to my home address and was showing up on Google maps. Took them 2 years and about 10 reports with photos to prove it.
Bloody annoying. No further implications.

FML it still shows up on parasitic advertising 3rd party local crap websites
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I have a couple of pinned places basically on my house but they've just put in random street names and my postcode, which is shared.

This new one doesn't seem to be appearing on google maps at least.
 
NVP said:
Nope.


Nothing a quick chat doesn't resolve.



Ah crap, you got me!
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Yes.
Credit reports are auto generated, I've had linked individuals on mine due to shared house. Also had same surname but different address and I was able to see their mortgage, credit card etc.
It took time to get these unlinked, not ideal if you don't check it regularly and can take time for them to update even after you've proved the errors. Not ideal if you're wanting to remortgage for example.

As for the hceo/debt collectors, they can be extremely persistent and who wants to go through the process of having to prove that you're not who they think you are.
 
Where are you getting your "credit report"?


Teknobry said:
As for the hceo/debt collectors, they can be extremely persistent and who wants to go through the process of having to prove that you're not who they think you are.
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Ah man yeh, showing a photo ID is hard.
 
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Directly from them? Sounds like bad implementation.

From Experian: "Can previous house owners affect my credit score? No – credit checks are done on people, not addresses. Your address is simply used alongside other information to help confirm your identity. You can be linked to other people on your credit report if you share finances with them, such as a joint mortgage."


Bad software may have caused your issue.
 
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NVP said:
Directly from them? Sounds like bad implementation.

From Experian: "Can previous house owners affect my credit score? No – credit checks are done on people, not addresses. Your address is simply used alongside other information to help confirm your identity. You can be linked to other people on your credit report if you share finances with them, such as a joint mortgage."


Bad software may have caused your issue.
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Absolutely, but they hold all the cards with this as the system is automated and unless you're on the ball it can mess you up. Having someone use your address fraudulently, whilst you may well be innocent, can still cause hassle and problems for you whilst trying to clear the mess up that's been created. Debt collection agencies like to pass on debts to each other, so you'll have sorted an issue with one then be getting phone calls or visits from another about the same thing you thought got sorted.
 
Simply being linked will not affect your credit rating, the ratings are calculated on an individual basis. Reports sent to you are just templated and pulling off tables to compile the info etc, but they're just reports.

Debt collection agencies are a minor, just ignore them. Then if someone knocks, tell them the truth about the situation.
 
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I think it's less effort to try and solve it than deal with potential debt collectors or other issues, as well as receiving all of the mail that is directed at the fake company. But in this scenario, I think you can treat it how you want to.

I've done the following:
  • Logged an issue with Action Fraud, they won't do anything with this, it just gives you a reference number to use.
  • Filed forms RP02a and RP07 with Companies House against the company name/number. You can file these online I found.
  • Followed up with Companies House enquiries@ email address to ask them to pick it up and deal with it using the references I got back from the two submissions above.
 
In case anyone is interested, I do have an update for this.

The RP07 form was set in motion pretty quickly, this is for changing the primary address of the company, this was processed by Companies House on 05/12/2023. They have to wait for 28 days for any potential response + 7 days for postal delays before they'll action the request.

This was completed on 17/01/2024 so the main address for the company is no longer mine. The address has changed to a Companies House default one.

The RP02A form, they were at least a month behind real time on processing these, this is for changing the address of the listed director. They confirmed this was started on 18/01/2024 and has the same wait time as the previous, so 28 days + 7 days for postal delays.

Hopefully in a month and a bit this problem will be solved.

Companies House have published guidance to state they will pursue identity verification both for new companies and for existing ones from 4th of March 2024: https://changestoukcompanylaw.campaign.gov.uk/changes-at-a-glance/

They haven't said what they'll do for ones that don't/can't complete verification, but this may solve a lot of pre-existing company registrations that people aren't aware of as part of this change.
 
HungryHippos said:
In case anyone is interested, I do have an update for this.

The RP07 form was set in motion pretty quickly, this is for changing the primary address of the company, this was processed by Companies House on 05/12/2023. They have to wait for 28 days for any potential response + 7 days for postal delays before they'll action the request.

This was completed on 17/01/2024 so the main address for the company is no longer mine. The address has changed to a Companies House default one.

The RP02A form, they were at least a month behind real time on processing these, this is for changing the address of the listed director. They confirmed this was started on 18/01/2024 and has the same wait time as the previous, so 28 days + 7 days for postal delays.

Hopefully in a month and a bit this problem will be solved.

Companies House have published guidance to state they will pursue identity verification both for new companies and for existing ones from 4th of March 2024: https://changestoukcompanylaw.campaign.gov.uk/changes-at-a-glance/

They haven't said what they'll do for ones that don't/can't complete verification, but this may solve a lot of pre-existing company registrations that people aren't aware of as part of this change.
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I hope it stops the fraudsters from being able to register companies so easily .... in 2 years I have had 2 Companies opened in my name, address etc, car insurance & credit cards also obtained & no one is interested as it isn't a crime until they steal something from me ---- apparently, getting car insurance in my name/address isn't fraud. I give up. At my age, I shouldn't have to spends days every month ringing the 15-20 'new search' companies that come up on my credit report (for which I have to pay £15pm) in the hope of stopping/cancelling new insurance policies, credit cards etc. Even DVLA told me politely to forget it!!!! Ironically, as ex-military, I have always been OTT re security .... passwords would need an Enigma machine to crack, burn all named/addressed envelopes etc. Hope they get hit by a bus!
 
AngryOldBat said:
I hope it stops the fraudsters from being able to register companies so easily .... in 2 years I have had 2 Companies opened in my name, address etc, car insurance & credit cards also obtained & no one is interested as it isn't a crime until they steal something from me ---- apparently, getting car insurance in my name/address isn't fraud. I give up. At my age, I shouldn't have to spends days every month ringing the 15-20 'new search' companies that come up on my credit report (for which I have to pay £15pm) in the hope of stopping/cancelling new insurance policies, credit cards etc. Even DVLA told me politely to forget it!!!! Ironically, as ex-military, I have always been OTT re security .... passwords would need an Enigma machine to crack, burn all named/addressed envelopes etc. Hope they get hit by a bus!
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Your situation sounds worse than mine to be fair, if they're registering things in your name and address then it sounds like this is is more full on identity fraud, so far the things I've received at my address are all not addressed to me, including this company that was setup.
 
HungryHippos said:
I think it's less effort to try and solve it than deal with potential debt collectors or other issues, as well as receiving all of the mail that is directed at the fake company. But in this scenario, I think you can treat it how you want to.

I've done the following:
  • Logged an issue with Action Fraud, they won't do anything with this, it just gives you a reference number to use.
  • Filed forms RP02a and RP07 with Companies House against the company name/number. You can file these online I found.
  • Followed up with Companies House enquiries@ email address to ask them to pick it up and deal with it using the references I got back from the two submissions above.
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It does seem like a major issue that a company can register itself in your address without sending a confirmation letter to the address with a URL confirmation, plus having the owner confirm their address in UK address.
Simple mail that enables a quick “no it was not me that requested a company at this address” URL would have helped speed up the process.
 
Honestly criminals are running rings around companies house and the UK system.

I have found entire streets of low value houses with every single house registered to businesses.

Of course, a really poor street totally full of business directors, nothing suspicious there companies house.
 
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