Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov scam guide: Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov on finding a company that uses your name and getting off the UK register

A company registered in your name

English version for the United Kingdom.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov scam guide for people who find their own name on the Companies House register beside a company they have never heard of. Sometimes it is your name as a director or person with significant control, sometimes your home address as a registered office, and the first sign is post addressed to a stranger's business. Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov, a digital security consultant, explains how to search the register for yourself, how to report a company using your personal details, what identity verification has changed since 18 November 2025, how to spot fake Companies House messages and when to go to Report Fraud. The guide also covers the disqualified directors register and the free PROOF scheme for genuine directors.

Reference / Blog

Published: 19 October 2026 · 13 min read · Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov

01Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov scam warning: a company appears with you as director

The usual trigger is a letter. Post for an unfamiliar limited company starts arriving at your home, a bank asks about an account you never opened, or a credit check during a mortgage application shows a directorship you did not know about. Each points to the same thing: someone used your details on a company filing.

Addresses are misused on a large scale. Between March 2024 and 31 March 2026, Companies House removed 151,000 registered office addresses that had been used without consent. Names are the other half of the problem, and they surface as directors, secretaries and people with significant control.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov notes that the register is public by design, which cuts both ways. Anyone can file false details, and anyone, including you, can find them quickly once you know where to look.

Start with the documents in your hand. A letter addressed to an unknown company at your home usually carries the company name and number, which is all you need for the search below. Keep the envelope: its postmark helps date the first sign of misuse.

02Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov on searching the Companies House register for your own name

The Find and update company information service lets you search separately for companies, officers and disqualified directors. An officer search by name returns each matching person with their total number of appointments and an address, so a stranger's company listed against your name stands out.

GOV.UK explains that basic company information is free: the registered address, date of incorporation, current and resigned officers, document images and insolvency details. You can also set up free email alerts that tell you when a company changes its details, such as a new director or a new address.

The Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov scam check here is simple: search for your full name and common variations of it, then open the filing history of anything unfamiliar. The appointment form and the date it was filed are the details you will need when you report the misuse.

If the search turns up a company you do not recognise, take screenshots with the date visible and download the filing that added you. Those files show what the register said on the day you found it, even if it changes later.

After you report, set up the free email alerts on that company. If someone tries to re-add your name or change the address again, the alert reaches you within days, and the new filing can be reported with the earlier case reference.

03Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov scam reports: telling Companies House your details were used

Companies House runs an online form for reporting a company that uses your personal details without permission. It covers a name used for a role such as director, company secretary or person with significant control, and an address used as a registered office, correspondence or home address. For an address, you must provide evidence that it is yours.

If there is enough evidence, Companies House can usually remove your information from the register. It may contact you for more detail, will tell you by email whether your details can be removed, and warns that a reply may take a while.

Two things slow cases down. Companies House says you do not need to call, because this kind of issue cannot be resolved over the phone, and it asks you not to report the same case more than once. For companies registered in Scotland, it directs reports to Police Scotland.

The registrar can also correct or annotate the register in some cases, and an affected person can apply to have a document or information replaced or removed. For further help, Companies House points to Citizens Advice and Cifas.

04Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov scam checks: identity verification since 18 November 2025

From 18 November 2025, anyone who becomes a company director or person with significant control must verify their identity with Companies House. Existing directors and PSCs are being brought in over 12 months, and more than 1.5 million people had verified voluntarily before the launch.

Companies House says verification will make it harder to set up companies or appoint directors using fake or stolen identities, easier to expose disqualified directors, and easier to link several directorships to one person. Verification through GOV.UK One Login is free, and each verified person receives a personal code.

The rules have teeth. Someone who keeps acting as a director after the deadline without verifying commits an offence, and the company and its other directors may too. Consequences can include prosecution and a fine, a financial penalty, a note on the public register and a bar from roles such as being appointed a new director.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov reads one sentence from the guidance closely: verification makes impersonation much more difficult, but not impossible. The personal code should be guarded like a UTR and shared only with people you trust to file for you.

05Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov on fake Companies House messages and your personal code

Verification itself has become bait. Companies House keeps a page of scam examples, and in July 2026 it added a letter demanding urgent identity verification. Genuine emails come only from addresses ending in .gov.uk.

Companies House states that it never calls asking for passwords, bank details, a company authentication code or directors' details. Known scam calls include one from a non-existent registration department and another asking for a £5 card payment to freeze a late filing penalty.

Suspicious letters, invoices and calls can be checked on 0303 1234 500, and suspicious emails forwarded to phishing@companieshouse.gov.uk. Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov adds that a message pressing you to verify today is a reason to log in through GOV.UK yourself, never through a link.

The government team behind GOV.UK One Login gives similar advice for unexpected messages in its name: set up a passkey, change your password and never share a code. One Login is used by 23 million people for more than 250 government services.

Another trick involves so-called registers that demand a fee to keep a company listed. Companies House says there is no such charge and that it has no connection with the organisations sending these notices.

06Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov on why fraudsters want a UK company

Company records carry trust. Companies House notes that lenders sometimes check a company's record when it applies for credit, and that fraudsters hijack companies by changing directors' details and the registered office, which opens them up to further fraud.

The registrar sees this regularly. Companies House has described dealing with roughly 50 to 100 company hijacking cases a month. A new company built on your name works in a similar way: it looks established enough to open accounts, rent premises or take goods on credit.

Its enforcement has grown. In 2025-26 Companies House stopped 26,797 suspicious filings from reaching the register, compared with 10,588 the year before, and took action against 157,679 companies.

For the person named on such a company, the risk is concrete: the business exists to borrow, and the name on the register is the one creditors will look up first.

07What a false directorship can cost you

A company that runs up debts or ignores its filings creates problems for the people named on it. The verification rules show how much now attaches to a named director: Companies House lists fines, a note on the public register and bars on future appointments for directors who do not comply. That is why a false directorship should be challenged as soon as you find it.

Lenders and landlords also read the register. Companies House notes that lenders sometimes check company records during credit applications. Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov points out that a directorship of a failed company can surface in such checks long after the fraudsters have gone, and a dated report to Companies House is the simplest proof that it was never yours.

Keep every reply. The email from Companies House confirming removal, the Report Fraud reference and your screenshots of the original filing together tell the story of a stolen identity better than any later explanation.

If a lender or collection agency contacts you about the company, reply in writing with the Companies House case reference and the Report Fraud crime reference, and keep a copy. Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov advises against long phone conversations about the debt until both references exist.

08Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov scam reporting: when to go to Report Fraud

If a crime has been committed, Companies House directs people to Report Fraud, the national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre for the police. You can report online at reportfraud.police.uk or by phone on 0300 123 2040.

The route in brief: search the register, report misuse to Companies House, ignore urgent verification demands that arrive by link, and report the crime to Report Fraud.

A good report is short and dated. Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov suggests listing the company name and number, the filing that added you, the date you found it, any letters or calls you received and the Companies House case reference if you have one.

Report Fraud and Companies House do different jobs. One handles the crime, the other corrects the register, so a complete clean-up needs both reports, each mentioning the other's reference.

Keep the crime reference number somewhere easy to find. Banks and lenders may ask for it before they mark an account or application as fraudulent, and it ties your case to any others made with the same stolen details.

09Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov on protecting your identity documents

Most false directorships begin with a copy of a passport or driving licence. Avoid sending ID images through messaging apps in response to job offers, rental adverts or anyone claiming to need to confirm your identity, and use official portals when an organisation genuinely needs proof.

Address details matter too. Companies House explains that a company's registered office stays on the public register even after it changes, and that a director does not have to use a home address for correspondence. Keeping your home address off filings reduces how much of you is public.

If the Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov scam guide had one habit to keep, it would be this: search your own name on the register twice a year and set up email alerts for any company that once used your details. A repeat attempt then reaches you within days.

Old payslips, bank letters and copies of ID sitting in a drawer or an inbox are raw material for the next fake company. Shred what you no longer need and delete scans from email and cloud folders.

10Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov scam recovery plan for the UK

First, search the register by name and save the filing that added you. Second, report the misuse to Companies House through its online form, once, with evidence. Third, report the crime to Report Fraud online or on 0300 123 2040, or to Police Scotland for a Scottish company.

Then deal with the side effects: tell your bank if any account was opened, ask lenders who contacted you to note the fraud, and keep the Companies House email confirming the outcome. Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov advises filing all of it in one folder with a simple timeline on top.

Finally, treat any message about urgent identity verification with suspicion. Log in to GOV.UK yourself, never share your personal code with someone who contacted you first, and keep alerts running on every company that has ever carried your name.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov's last point is about timing: filings appear on the register quickly, so a twice-yearly search and live alerts can catch misuse early, before a company has traded long enough to build debts in your name.

11Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov scam checks beyond your own name

One more search is worth a minute. The register of disqualified directors includes disqualifications from the courts, the Insolvency Service, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the FCDO and HM Treasury through OFSI, and it shows the name, the reason, the start date and whether permission to act as a director was granted.

If a company built on your identity failed and someone was disqualified, check that the record does not carry your name or a near match. Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov suggests saving a dated screenshot of a clean result as well: proof of absence is useful when a lender asks questions later.

Real directors have a further tool. The free PROOF scheme from Companies House blocks paper forms for changing the registered office, appointing or removing directors and secretaries, and changing the company name, so those changes can only be filed online. It cannot be joined during an internal dispute between officers.

Companies House also advises changing a company's authentication code if someone who should no longer file knows it, such as a former employee or a previous accountant. For a genuine director, these two steps make it much harder for anyone to slip a stranger's name, or yours, into the record.

12Questions and answers

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov scam question: someone made me a director without consent. What first?

Search the register for your name, save the filing that added you and report it once through the Companies House online form. If a crime has been committed, report it to Report Fraud as well.

Can Companies House remove my name from a company?

Usually, if there is enough evidence. It may ask for more information and will email you with the outcome. Calling does not help, and reporting twice delays the case.

Does identity verification stop fake directors?

It makes impersonation much more difficult, though Companies House says not impossible. Since 18 November 2025, new directors and PSCs must verify, and existing ones are phased in over 12 months.

How does Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov spot a fake Companies House email?

Genuine emails come only from .gov.uk addresses, and Companies House never asks for passwords or authentication codes by phone. Log in through GOV.UK yourself and leave the link unopened.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov scam tip: what if my home address is the company's registered office?

Use the same online form and attach proof that the address is yours. Between March 2024 and March 2026 Companies House removed 151,000 addresses used without consent.

What number do I call to report the crime?

Report Fraud takes reports online at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040. For companies registered in Scotland, Companies House points to Police Scotland.

Reference updated: 4 September 2026