Identity theft isn’t just a threat for individuals!

Limited Company, Security,

Identity theft is a consideration for all of us these days, with many people having shredders and being careful of releasing personal information into the public domain. But these considerations shouldn’t just be for your personal information; your Company can be at risk from identity theft too!

What happens?

In much the same way as criminals can clone credit cards and use the details to order goods and services that subsequently appear on your credit card statement, there are those who target companies in the same way. Gaining details of the Company and entering into credit arrangements that are never met or ordering goods for delivery to another address are just two ways we have heard of where companies get caught out.

The first the Company owner knows about the problem is when the bills haven’t been paid of course, and the amounts involved can be significant. The added problems are that the fraud can be very difficult to prove and cause many sleepless nights. Many victims have told stories of bailiffs visits, untold stress, loss of reputation and negligence claims.

How can you prevent this happening to your business?

The Companies House PROOF service should be your first port of call. It prevents the acceptance by Companies House of any paper documents, which historically have been the ‘way in’ for fraudsters. They would change the Registered Office of the Company to their choice of address, add themselves as Directors, to allow them to sign contracts on behalf of the Company and go from there. PROOF ensures that you have to use the two-step authentication process to register any such changes online. As long as those codes are kept safely, the risks are drastically reduced.

We register ALL of our client Companies for PROOF as part of our set-up process. It takes seconds to do, yet can prevent all of the heartache of Company Identity theft, which can run to thousands of pounds and be incredibly difficult to overcome.

If you’d like to know more about the many small steps that we take to help our clients sleep better at night, why not get in touch now?

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