Reporting scams pretending to be from Companies House

Question

Accepted Answer

Many people are wanting to make charitable donations to support the people affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Charity Commission and Fundraising Regulator has issued guidance for people looking to donate to make sure the donations reach their intended causes.

There’s a separate process if you want to:

Scam telephone calls

We’ll never call you to find out who your officers are, or ask for secure information like your authentication code.

If anyone calls you claiming to be from Companies House and asking for this information:

do not give out your information
try to get a return telephone number
contact us immediately on 0303 1234 500

Late filing penalty payment phone call

Scammers have called to ask companies pay a late filing penalty over the telephone. The caller says they’ll accept a payment of £5 by credit or debit to place a hold on any further action being taken.

We will not call you for immediate payment of a late filing penalty. We will not ask you for money to place a hold on further action.

Asking for your authentication code over the phone

We’ll never ask you what your authentication code is over the phone. Do not give out this information.

Asking for directors’ details over the phone

People claiming to be from Companies House have called companies and asked for details of their company’s directors.

After being advised there’s a “discrepancy with the information held on the register”, the caller asks for information such as full dates of birth for directors.

We’ll never ask you for this information over the phone.

Scam emails

You may receive scam emails that claim to be from Companies House.

Some emails might have an attachment, such as a Word document. They might ask you to enter an authorisation code or click a link.

If you get a suspicious email:

report it to us immediately at phishing@companieshouse.gov.uk
do not share any personal information, click any links or open any attachments
delete the email from all mailboxes, including your deleted items

Several scam emails claim to be notifying you of a complaint related to your company.

The emails may give a reference number or submission number for the complaint. They may ask you to open an attachment or click a link to download and review the complaint.

The sender of the email may be “complaints@companies-house-gov.uk” or “noreply@cpgov.uk”.

Investigations and Enforcement Services emails

These emails claim to be from the ‘Investigations and Enforcement Services at Companies House’. The emails say they’re automatically generated in response to a complaint about a company.

The emails ask you to view an attached document. Do not open this attachment. It contains malware.

Phishing scam about your WebFiling account

This email comes from the domain @libero.it, about “important matters related to your Companies House WebFiling account”.

Scam emails about online identification

These emails claim to be from Companies House and ask you to complete “online identification”.

Scam email request to avoid legal action

This email claims to be from Companies House. It asks you to use “e-Sign platform” to download and review documents affecting your business.

Scam email request to use an e-Sign platform to download documents

This phishing email asks you to download documents about the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill second reading.

Phishing scam with subject line ‘Hundreds of phone calls and emails have been sent in the name of your company – Notice #’

This scam email claims that hundreds of phone calls and emails have been sent in your company name. It also asks you to click a link to see what type of information has been sent.

Phishing scam asking to verify your identity

These phishing scam emails come from the address “noreply@companieshousel.ink”. They ask you to ‘Verify your identity by Friday, Feb 8”. These emails claim to be from Companies House and HMRC.

Scam request to download a copy of an application

These emails appear to come from a valid Companies House email address but do not.

The emails tell you that your application has been submitted and ask you to to download a copy of the application.

Scam ‘Document Order’ emails

These emails appear to come from a valid Companies House email address but do not.

You’ll only get a real document order email if you’ve requested a copy of current company information using our online filing service.

Genuine document order emails contain:

your company name and number under the ‘Order detail’ heading
a reference to the attached PDF of company information

The scam emails do not contain this individual company information, and the attachment is not in a PDF format.

Scam online filing submission emails

Some scam emails claim to be a response to an online filing submission.

They might ask you to:

scan and fax an attached document
check an attachment to confirm your acceptance or rejection of a filing

If the email is genuine, we’ll tell you in the body of the email if we’ve accepted or rejected your submission.

Scam eReminder requests for accounts

These phishing emails appear to be a reminder to submit accounts.

The emails have an incorrect due date. They ask you to “find information in the following link regarding your Company’s annual accounts”.

Do not open this link. It takes you to ‘118enquiries.com’ and downloads a zip-file onto your device.

Scam requests to verify your Companies House password

If you’re not expecting to receive an email to reset your password, it may be a scam.

Always check the website address (URL) you’re about to visit. If the address does not contain ‘.gov.uk’, it is not a Companies House page and could be a scam.

For example, a password reset request for our online filing service will have an address that starts: ‘ewf.companieshouse.gov.uk’.

Fraudulent email domains

Some scam emails use the following domains in their email addresses. We do not use these domains:

@arccoz.com
@companies-house-gov.uk
@cpgov.uk
@companieshouse.me.uk
@companies-house.me.uk
@companieshousecomplaint.co.uk
@companieshousecomplaints.co.uk
@companieshouseemail.co.uk
@companieshouseemail.uk
@companieshouses.com
@companiesshouse.com
@companiesshouse.co.uk
@companieshouses.co.uk
@companieshousesecure.co.uk
@cp-securemessage.co.uk
@ebilling-companieshouse-gov.uk
@companieshousel.ink

Scam letters

Scam letters may include:

QR codes
links to web pages
bank details

They may ask you to visit a web page or make a payment.

If you receive a suspicious letter:

contact us immediately on 0303 1234 500
do not pay any money to the sender
do not visit any web page or QR code links

Letter about ‘Company Registration’

This is a scam letter asking for payment for “publishing your company’s legal information on the public database of Companies House Register (COHOREG)”.

Letter about ‘payment code’

This is a scam letter asking for payment for ‘Enhanced Web Filing Access’.

Letters from prosecuting solicitors asking for payment

This is a scam letter appearing to be from Companies House prosecuting solicitors.

It asks for payment into a bank account to clear an outstanding invoice for “prior penalty negotiations”.

We do not send these kinds of letters.

Scam invoice asking for payment for company registration

This scam letter appears to be an invoice from Companies House.

It asks for payment of a balance shown in dollars, and is addressed from ‘Government Digital Service, Caroline Street, Birmingham’.

These invoices are not from Companies House.

Suspicious job vacancies

Scam job vacancies generally offer highly paid vacancies or opportunities in the oil, hotel or banking industries.

The job adverts often appear in print or on websites to seem genuine.

They might ask for money to process your application or mention UK visas. Check with UK Visas and Immigration for information on applying for a UK visa.

The contact details are usually fake. You should not reply to the providers of these vacancies.

Treat all job offers with extreme caution.

You can search for genuine job vacancies at Companies House on the civil service jobs website.

Pension liberation scams

Pension scams are increasingly common in the UK.

Scammers might try and set up a limited company in your name.

If you believe someone has set up a company in your name, seek legal advice before taking any action to close it.

You might see scams promoted as:

offers of ‘unique investment opportunities’
free pension reviews
legal loopholes
cash bonuses
government endorsed schemes

Pension scammers might approach you:

by calling you on the phone
in a text message
in person, door to door

Be careful any time you’re contacted about your pension, unless it’s from a source you recognise and trust.

If someone approaches you about your pension, do not share your personal information or sign any paperwork.

The Money and Pensions Service can help you check if the offer of service is genuine.

The Pensions Regulator has information to help you if you think you’ve been targeted by pension scams.

Scam company register payment requests

Scammers have sent companies ‘notifications’ asking for money to maintain their company on a register.

These notifications might come from:

New Companies Register
Digital Companies Register
National Register of Companies
Economic Index for Europe
Register of Companies and Businesses
Scottish Commercial Register (publication of companies)
Welsh Commercial Register
e-public.co.uk Company Register
regist.co.uk

This is not a real fee and Companies House is not connected to any of these organisations.

Do not pay the fee.

Reporting scams pretending to be from Companies House