Companies House contributing to identity theft

[northernladuk]

I guess you are not going to let this one drop so it's back to Cojaks point.

[SueEllen]

DannyR when you or more likely some vunerable member of your family is ripped of by someone who starts multiple companies and then phoenixes them, you will understand why such data is available. Until the government makes it harder for dodgy directors to do this then everyone including private individuals, regulators and investigative journalists needs access to that information.

Also if I wanted to steal someone's personal details to open a mobile phone or credit card account then it's not that hard particularly in some regions of the country to either intercept the post or go through someone's bins. Oh and you don't even have to do that to screw someone else over with a payday loan.

[DannyR]

DannyR when you or more likely some vunerable member of your family is ripped of by someone who starts multiple companies and then phoenixes them, you will understand why such data is available. Until the government makes it harder for dodgy directors to do this then everyone including private individuals, regulators and investigative journalists needs access to that information.

Please reread my posts, I'm not complaining about a director past and present companies information being available, I am complaining about the director DOB being publicly available which only helps scammers and criminals.

[Ticktock]

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)

Unfortunately the unique ID isn't enough. I was looking up details of someone I used to know, and found that he now has 4 director IDs. Same name, DOB and address, but the records of his many companies opened and later closed due to not filing accounts are not linked. The only way to see this is to check all of his director IDs separately.

[d000hg]

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?

If you want to make things open, information has to be available.

It is not difficult to find this stuff anyway, you could just buy a mailing list of thousands (or tens of thousands) of names & addresses.

And Clare already told you, you should not use your home address as your business address. Why isn't it your responsibility to avoid disclosing information you don't want to?

[DannyR]

Unfortunately the unique ID isn't enough. I was looking up details of someone I used to know, and found that he now has 4 director IDs. Same name, DOB and address, but the records of his many companies opened and later closed due to not filing accounts are not linked. The only way to see this is to check all of his director IDs separately.

Interesting but IMHO it's a Companies House bug. Companies House has everything it needs to uniquely identify a director before company accounts are filed.
Also, regarding the unique director ID, IMHO this ID should also not something being made official / public but solely used by Companies House for their internal database as such an ID could probably be misused as well. A simple link from one director to all his/her past and present companies (including the companies which accounts haven't been filed) should be enough.

It is not difficult to find this stuff anyway, you could just buy a mailing list of thousands (or tens of thousands) of names & addresses.

Well it's not difficult for someone to break into your home, but you still close your door, don't you? Think a few seconds why you do it.

And Clare already told you, you should not use your home address as your business address. Why isn't it your responsibility to avoid disclosing information you don't want to?

Companies House has recently (a few years ago) made it possible to not publicly disclose the home address and it is indeed a good thing. In the news article, the guy whose identity was stolen had his home address displayed publicly because at the time he created his company this information was not yet hidable.

[ELBBUBKUNPS]

I know of x 3 people in the last 2 months all company directors who have such fraud take place and they believe the fraudsters used company / house info. In all cases bank accounts were opened and they only got wind when activiation codes were posted to them.

I know its been happening for a while due to the info company houses and other websites have but it does seem to be picking up again.

[Clare@InTouch]

Just an update on this - Companies House will shortly no longer be showing the full date of birth for a director, in an effort to reduce ID theft.

Page 17 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...s-response.pdf

A few more changes detailed there too, in regard to annual returns, being able to add a trading address to the public register, and a faster striking off process.

[CloudWalker]

I don't even put my DOB on facebook

[tractor]

...

Governments and unique Id's - now that's an oxymoron - do you have any idea how many duplicated NI numbers are knocking around the country? Here's a clue - neither does the government.

That's why a unique id could never work.