Protect Your Business From Corporate ID Theft

Identity fraud is seen as something that affects the general public, but it is increasingly affecting businesses. In a survey of its members, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) found that 29% of its members (or their clients) have suffered some form of identity theft.

John Davies, Head of Business Law at ACCA said: "One of the biggest problems for companies is that fraudsters can submit forms to Companies House which enable them to change the names of company directors and the registered address of the company. Once this has been done, the 'new' directors can open new bank accounts, have goods delivered to the 'new' address and effectively ruin the credit rating of the business. 

"Companies House is now taking the matter seriously and has launched an initiative - PROOF - which, as well as encouraging businesses to file on-line, should also help to deter the fraudsters."

The PROOF initiative is free of charge and when a company registers to file on-line it will receive a security code and an authentication code from Companies House, which undertakes only to accept specific statutory forms in electronic format. And as an added security measure, an email will be sent to the company’s registered email address when any of its details are changed.

John Davies adds: "Companies should remember that by registering with PROOF and filing documents on-line they can also save money. To deliver an annual return in hard copy costs £30, whereas by using this on-line facility they can save £15."

Measures to be introduced in the Government's new company law reform bill, including a new criminal offence of delivering misleading information to the Registrar, also have the potential to prove to be a valuable weapon against corporate fraudsters. This will help to ensure that if your identity is stolen, there is more you can do to recover the situation.

ACCA also suggests that there are other security measures businesses can easily adopt to protect themselves:

Companies should make regular checks to ensure that their details registered with Companies House are correct.

 

• Shred all corporate waste - and ensure that those employed to do so are vetted to ensure that they do not have a criminal background and can be trusted with what is a crucial part of any company's security procedure.


• If you move address, remember to inform all of the companies/customer that send information to you in the post and consider re-directing your post through Royal Mail.


• Destroy or keep safe all correspondence such as bank and credit card statements and utility bills.

posted by The Editor @ 4:16 PM