Beware Companies House scams

Businesses are being urged to be on guard against scam letters, emails and telephone calls claiming to be from Companies House.

The government has issued guidance on what companies should do if they think they’ve spotted a scam or believe an approach to be suspicious.

The guidance includes examples of the wide range of scams that are currently targeting businesses including a ‘convincing’ scam letter demanding payments to Companies House.

Other examples given include companies being contacted over the telephone and asked for payment of a late filing penalty.

Companies House stresses that it does not ‘cold call’ businesses to take a payment and will never ask what your authentication code is – or other secure information – over the phone.

It adds that if you receive a suspicious email, you should report it immediately at phishing@companieshouse.gov.uk.

And it stresses: “Do not disclose any personal information or open any attachments.”

There is also currently a scam email circulating which is impersonating Companies House about a ‘company complaint’.

Here, the advice is clear: “Do not click on any links, reply to the email or open any attachments. Please delete the email from all mailboxes including your deleted items.”

That same advice is also given to anyone who receives a suspicious email requesting a correction.

Other scams targeting businesses include an email request to use an a-Sign platform to download documents.

To find out more about scams currently in use and how to deal with them visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/reporting-scams-pretending-to-be-from-companies-house