A company registered in England and Wales must provide a full postal address as its “Registered Office”.

The registered office address can be changed through notification to the Registrar on form 287 which can be filed electronically or in paper form.

Fraudsters are obtaining details of a company’s current registered office and registration number, (easily obtained over the internet) completing the form, and changing the registered office to a short term address such as a let property. They set up a trade account at that address, order and take delivery of goods…and then disappear!

The legitimate business only becomes aware that there name has been used for a purchase when the debt collectors track them down…and the arguments start.

Companies House are encouraging users to file documents electronically using its new Proof online filing system, which has a unique security code. Alternatively, you can opt to use a monitoring service which notifies that changes to registered details have been made for 50p a time.

Richard Brown
May 2005