Companies House contributing to identity theft

[DannyR]

Hi all,

For those of you who are (rightly) worried about how much personal and private information is publicly leaked by Companies House here is an interesting (and worrying) news article I came across today:
Russian gangs target Britons with new identity theft scam | Mail Online
"Russian gangs target Britons in new identity theft scam by trawling public records to apply for credit cards in YOUR name, Use Companies House details to apply for credit cards."

A couple of years ago I already sent a post on this forum upon discovering that every UK company balance sheet is just one click away (thanks to Companies House) :
http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...lick-away.html

Companies House clearly poses a threat to people's privacy and security and should put its house in order by not leaking personal and private information that can be used by scammers and criminals.

[Clare@InTouch]

Having certain information available is the price you pay for having the benefit of limited liability. You are accountable for the company and people should be able to check you out.

If you were to pay a deposit to a builder for example, and knew he was protected by limited liability, it's surely a good thing to be able to look at his last accounts and see he's solvent. It gives a bit if reassurance.

That being said, you can limit what's available by using your accountant as your registered office and service address. Your own home address is then not available, unless you've used it in the past on your company record. You can also file abbreviated accounts.

[DannyR]

Hi Clare,

Thank you for your answer, good points.

One thing though: what's the use of the date of birth being publicly available?
I don't see the use for someone who wants to check the company but it's very useful for someone who wants to steal the director's identity.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Not sure why you are getting your knickers in a twist. Company accounts are public records. The same system that allows others to find out about my company also allow me to investigate potential clients to assess their credit worthiness and financial position and thus, the risk of me not being paid.

As Clare says, you're free to use another address if you really don't want people to know your home address. Why do you care about people knowing your DOB?

If you want ultimate privacy, don't start a Ltd company.

Duedil.com is quite a good site for accessing this information BTW.

[cojak]

Not sure why you are getting your knickers in a twist. Company accounts are public records. The same system that allows others to find out about my company also allow me to investigate potential clients to assess their credit worthiness and financial position and thus, the risk of me not being paid.

As Clare says, you're free to use another address if you really don't want people to know your home address. Why do you care about people knowing your DOB?

If you want ultimate privacy, don't start a Ltd company.

Duedil.com is quite a good site for accessing this information BTW.

Because he's on a personal crusade ,,,

[DannyR]

@TheCyclingProgrammer & @cojak:

Why do you care about people knowing your DOB?

As related by the news article it is one of the information criminals use to steal identity.

Because he's on a personal crusade

If you want ultimate privacy, don't start a Ltd company.

I am not on a personal crusade and I don't want ultimate privacy, I want public bodies like Companies House, local councils, etc... to avoid helping scammers and criminals stealing people's identity. Is is too much to ask?

[Clare@InTouch]

The date of birth is necessary to tell one Dave Smith from another, which is useful when you're looking at what other companies someone is (or has been) a director of.

If you're trying to find out if someone has a history of starting companies then going into receivership, the date of birth allows you to differentiate people of the same name.

[northernladuk]

I must admit it's not the fact that limited data is available that worries me particularly. It's the fact the credit card companies and suppliers don't do a bit of basic checking. Opening a credit card from in IP in Russia seems to be a major failing and who the hell uses AOL emails anymore?

It's the credit people and suppliers that need to step up IMO. Blaming a system that works fine because of other failings I don't think is the answer.

[TestMangler]

I must admit it's not the fact that limited data is available that worries me particularly. It's the fact the credit card companies and suppliers don't do a bit of basic checking. Opening a credit card from in IP in Russia seems to be a major failing and who the hell uses AOL emails anymore?

It's the credit people and suppliers that need to step up IMO. Blaming a system that works fine because of other failings I don't think is the answer.

Correct NLUK, but the OP does actually have a point, despite the derision of some posters who should know better.

There are a lot of mobile phone shops, for example, that will let you walk in and walk out with a contract phone with nothing more than name, address and Date Of Birth. If the data matches, you're good to go. I know, cause it's happened to me twice and caused no end of problems when being credit checked for jobs. In one case, the thief used my name and DOB and ended up having an address added to my credit file, which was a bitch to get rid of.

So, OP you do actually have a perfectly valid point. The basic free record at CoHo would be a lot safer without the DOB.

[DannyR]

The date of birth is necessary to tell one Dave Smith from another, which is useful when you're looking at what other companies someone is (or has been) a director of.
If you're trying to find out if someone has a history of starting companies then going into receivership, the date of birth allows you to differentiate people of the same name.

It seems to me that giving away the date of birth (or any private information) is not necessary to distinguish people of the same name, I think a unique director id would be enough (or simply a link between the director and all his/her associated companies)

It's the credit people and suppliers that need to step up IMO. Blaming a system that works fine because of other failings I don't think is the answer.

Well IMHO it would be impossible to ensure that nobody / no companies around the world misuse the information available through Companies House public records. So it's up to Companies House to make its best to protect that data. Providing the possibility to hide the director's home address was a good first step. The DOB should not be public neither. A unique director id (or equivalent) would be enough if the use of DOB is to distinguish homonyms.