Company Formation Specialists

Hijack Alert - Company Anti-Hijacking Service

Don’t let your company be sabotaged by company hijackers:

Hanover Company Services has been aware for some time of the serious damage that can be done to small and medium sized businesses by ‘hijackers’ taking control of Limited Companies.

Who can be affected?

Every Limited Company is vulnerable and at risk. As the company Director of a Limited Company, despite owning and being in charge of your companies finances and transactions, you will not necessarily be aware that your company has been ‘hijacked’ until you finally realize that another party is acting illegally on your company’s behalf.

What can hijackers do to your company?

Company hijacks normally involve professional fraudsters who go about accessing details of a company's Directors and Registered Office, then changing them through readily accessible ‘Change of Registered Office’ forms i.e. Form 287. The changes made on these forms, do not require your signatures or authorisation!

On completion of these forms, the fraudsters will then proceed to use your "hijacked company" to order goods or services on credit which they then sell on, but never pay for.

The innocent company involved, whose details have been altered by the fraudster, will only find out about the scam when the debt collectors arrive, or when legal action is initiated to recover the goods that have been fraudulently obtained.

The company then has to sort out the aftermath, including correcting its public record.

Am I protected in any way through Companies House?

Companies House cannot prevent company hijacking. It does not have the power to investigate the contents and/or accuracy of forms sent to them for filing. Once a "Form 287" (form to change the Registered Office of a company) is completed and submitted, Companies House will amend its database without getting confirmation. The fraudster is then at liberty to start opening trade accounts and ordering goods to be delivered to the bogus address.

Hanover Company Services can now assist!

To help prevent this from happening to your company, Hanover Company Services are pleased to offer our customers a new Company Monitoring System.

This system will ensure that as Owner/Director of the company, you are immediately emailed with notification advising you that someone has filed a Form 287 (Change of Registered Office) or 288a (Appointment of Director or Secretary) or filed an Annual Return (Form 363).

At this stage, this person may or may not be legitimate. Nevertheless, as soon as the documents are received and registered at Companies House, our e-system will recognise your interest and notify you by email.

You are then in control to decide whether you wish to order and pay to obtain the document image (simply by contacting our office by phone or email).

The fee for providing our Company Monitoring System is £18.00 per annum. Top Of Page