Companies House scam warning over ID verification

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know about ID verification with Companies House. Essentially, if you are a company director, person with significant control, or an LLP member, you now need to verify your ID with Companies House. Unfortunately, criminals are taking advantage of this to operate a Companies House scam that can leave you out of pocket.

Companies House ID verification – a recap

Companies House has been introducing ID verification since April 2025. This becomes compulsory from 18^th November 2025. At a future date, other groups of people will need to verify their ID, so expect to see more Companies House scam warnings in the future. You can find out about ID verification in our blog post, which also explains how to complete the process.

What is the Companies House scam?

According to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the latest Companies House scam involves people posing as accounting firms. They get in touch primarily with company directors and give them misleading information about the ID verification process. They then charge them unnecessary fees.

If you receive a letter or call out of the blue offering to take care of your ID verification, ignore it. You can verify your own ID online at no cost. If you do have problems completing the process, talk to your current accountant. If you are a THP client, your account manager will happily help you iron out any issues.

Other Companies House scams

Unfortunately, the recent Companies House scam isn’t the first. In September 2025, Trading View was advising its readers to be vigilant. This was because scammers were getting in touch with companies and claiming that there was a discrepancy with information held on the register. They would then try to get hold of information such as full dates of birth for directors. Phishing scams of this kind can put you at risk of identity theft, so be sure not to hand over personal information.

Companies House itself advises you on possible scams. These include:

• People calling recently registered companies and claiming to be the Companies House registration department (which doesn’t exist). They ask for contact details so they can send out ‘registration documents’.
• Scammers calling you to demand you pay a ‘late filing penalty’ over the phone by debit or credit card to prevent further action. Companies House will never call to ask for an immediate payment.
• People asking for your authentication code over the phone. Don’t give out this information.

Companies House also advises that there are many email scams. Scammers often use email addresses that seem genuine, but are not. Real emails for Companies House will always have ‘gov.uk’ in the address. Look very closely at the address any email comes from. For example, some scammers have used ‘@companies-house-gov.uk’, which is not genuine.

How to report a scam

If you believe you have been targeted by a scam, you should notify Companies House. If you receive a scam phone call, try to get a return telephone number and then report the scam to Companies House on 0303 1234 500. On the other hand, if you receive a scam email, do not share any information, don’t click on any links and don’t open any attachments. Then report the scam immediately to phishing@companieshouse.gov.uk