Sadly, fraud is a major problem for many companies in the UK. Over half a billion pounds was lost to fraud in the first half of 2023 alone.

This means it is important to stay vigilant to the latest scams and always think carefully before sending money or sharing any financial information.

One common current scam we have seen is by fraudsters pretending to be ‘Company House’ or a similarly named company. We have received several examples of this recently from clients.

Here are two example below that we received:

Fake Company House Letters

In this example, a client forwarded us a fake letter pretending to be from Companies House instructing them to make a payment of £48 for ‘enhanced Webfiling’.

The letter suggests failure to pay would result in the suspension of web filing.  Notice the couple of misspellings in the letter. Other than that, it is a very good fake and would look to most people to be a genuine letter.

We have confirmed with Companies House that this letter is a fake.

A fake letter pretending to be from Company House

Fake Company Registry

We have also seen letters coming from a company called “Company Register”. They also ask for money, this time for “activating a secure vault”.

Like the previous example, these letters are also scams.

Fake Company Registry Letter

What to do if you receive suspected scam correspondence

You can help to make company house aware of any ongoing scams by reporting suspected scam correspondence using the page here.

This article is for guidance only and professional advice should be obtained before acting on any information contained in them. No responsibility can be accepted for loss occasioned howsoever to any person as a result of action taken or refrained from as a result of reading.