Gadgetdudes Limited - Impersonation Fraud

Gadgetdudes Limited has been a victim of company identity fraud. They have submitted the below statement for a publication to clarify their situation:

"We are an online retailer and ONLY operate through our website: http://www.gadgetdudes.co.uk

We are aware that unscrupulous individuals have been using our company name and address, through online adverts and forums, to offer cheap electrical goods such as mobile phones and DJ equipment, they then request payments through companies such as Western Union for goods they do not deliver. Gadgetdudes does NOT offer payments through Western Union and we do NOT work with this company for any sort of payment.

The scammers use free sign up e-mail addresses for correspondence. An example is: DAVID GREY - gatgetdudes@gmail.com, gatgetdudes@live.com.

Gadgetdudes ONLY corresponds with our customers through email address ending with: ..@gadgetdudes.co.uk

The scammers link to the website ukdata.com for their potential victims to "verify" them using UK Data Ltd's credit checking services, however the scammers have no relation to the real company. In this case, the customer and the company are both victims. Gadgetdudes Limited have been made aware of this and we are working with UK Data Ltd and the City of London Police to stop these fraudsters."

For more information on this and other fraud please visit this link and to see updated company page on ukdata.com go here.

Met Police Company Fraud Alert

BIG MAN MANAGEMENT Ltd - 06904046 - Appointment without consent & fraudulent change of R/O

Robert HOLLOWAY has complained to CH that he has been appointed as director of this company and also that the R/O address has been

changed to his service address of HARRIET HOUSE, 118A HIGH STREET, ERDINGTON, B23 6BG without his knowledge or consent.

He apparently has no knowledge of this company nor the previous director.

LILLYSTONE VALE & CO LIMITED - 06733684 - Appointment without consent Christine ELTON has been appointed as the company secretary from

incorporation, she say’s she does not know the director Francis LILLYSTONE nor has she ever heard of the company.

Ms ELTON has a Newcastle address and Mr LILLYSTONE has a Darlington address.

The company R/O address has been changed 2 times since incorporation on 27/10/2008

108 MARTINDALE AVENUE, CUSTOME HOUSE, LONDON, E16 3AB, UNITED KINGDOM

8 HYTHE FARM, FIR ROAD, FELTHAM, TW13 6UJ

396 LIMES AVENUE, CHIGWELL, ESSEX, ENGLAND, IG7 5ND

There does not appear to be any apparent link between the officials addresses and the company R/O addresses which I believe have come to notice previously.

J AND K TEXTILES AND FABRICS LTD - 7127796 - Possible fraudulent incorporation

This was only incorporated on 17/01/2010 and has an R/O shown as PAWS

A WHILE 23 HIGH STREET, PAWS A WHILE 23 HIGH STREET, IPSWICH, SUFFOLK,

ENGLAND, IP7 7EX.

This is also shown as the address for the officials shown as Katherine RHOADS and James RHOADS. Neither the officials nor the company are known to the person who

actually owns this property.

For more information visit our dedicated fraud webpage

New Metropolitan Police Alert

SLS RECOVERY LTD - 07007732 - Appointment without consent

Cyrus KRISTEDT has been appointed as a director to this company without his consent. He does not know the other director Lars WENNERSTROM and has never heard of this company.

Both directors live in Sweden.

The company was set up by a formation agency.

ABFAST LTD - 6535778 - Address used as director’s address

This company has its R/O shown as 1 BELVOIR ROAD, BOTTESFORD, NOTTINGHAM, NG13 0BG.
This address is also shown as the address of the director, Martin Lee MAWBEY since incorporation.
Neither the company nor the director are known to the occupiers of the address.

For more information visit our dedicated fraud webpage:- https://www.ukdata.com/help/fraudalert.php

Live company fraud alerts starting today

From today, the fraud forum is going. All alerts we receive from companies, bloggers, the Met police and other sources will be announced here by Melissa.

If you have any concerns over a company, or have been a victim of company impersonation, let us know.

Full details will be posted on the website with a relevant link but instant alerts will be on our Twitter channel and subsequently updated here.

You can contact Melissa by email or via Twitter

No more Profile Reports

It is with much sadness I have to report the demise of our much loved (ahem - Ed) Company Profile Report. As of today 5th January this report is no longer available.

We took this decision becasuse we felt the report no longer reflected value for money and did not supply enough information to justify selling, especially since the introduction of the Companies Act 2006 made it impossible for us to keep some of the information up to date.

We have however discounted the price of the Full Report by 50% for those of you who have purchased a profile Report in 2009. This discount will apply until 31st March. After that the pricing will revert to normal and the only report available will be the Full Report.

We will be introducing a new set of products and pricing deals this year, including a subscription model and some bulk deals for the prolific users amongst you.

In addition, keep an eye out for our special time limited deals with free access to be announced on this Blog and on our Twitter to celebrate our new website launch (estimated release date end Feb).

Darling, a VAT increase for the new year

Happy new year to everyone.

And much thanks goes of course to the chancellor for kick-starting the year with a VAT increase.

We have had to increase our VAT rate to 17.5% and this took effect 1st January at midnight. If you have any problems with automated invoices during the switchover period between 23:00 31st December and 02:00 1st January please email office[at]ukdata.com

If you have a query with the VAT increase itself please email public.enquiries@hm-treasury.gov.uk

Company Directors now can use Service Addresses

Now that the latest implemenation of the Companies Act 2006 is in place, company directors can now request to use a service address rather than a home address as the public record at the Registrar.

Quote:

"From 1st October 2009 every director must provide Companies House with both their usual residential address, and for each directorship they hold, a service address. The service address will be on the public record and will be public information but the residential address will be protected information. A director can choose any address as the service address including the registered office address of the company. The address must be where documents can be delivered and an acknowledgement or receipt can be provided if required. The address can not be a PO Box or a DX number. If the director chooses to use his residential address as the service address the fact that the two addresses are the same would not be apparent from the public record."

And, importantly:

"Q. If a company is in default, will any letter addressed to the directors go to the Service Address or residential address?

A. Letters will be sent to the Service Address initially."

This is handy for the Directors as it prevents fraudulent use of their details by scammers. However, it may create an upsurge in fraudsters creating companies using completely false addresses and as I posted on Twitter the other day, there may be a case for the Government to review this.

The Registrar is only a place of record and little checking of details is performed on submitted documents. While the rest of us struggle on with banks and other institutions wanting to KYC (know your customer) check us every time we need a new account or credit card, it is entirely possible to create a fictitious company at a false address.

Please take part in our poll (see right hand side of this blog) and tell us if you think the service address is more or less likely to increase fraud. You can sign in to use the poll using a Google, Yahoo or even a Twitter account and share the poll results using your twitter page.