Companies House loopholes thwarted by new anti-fraud solution
Kompli-Global has launched a new tool to help fintechs fight corporate fraud using Companies House data.
The fraud prevention specialist said that scammers know that Companies House does not have the remit or resources to check the accuracy of information that is submitted and merely records the required information provided.
This enables dishonest individuals to hide the fact they are connected to other companies by simply registering with slightly different names, such as Mr J Smith, Mr John Smith and Mr Jon Smith. Even though the same address is used these will appear as three different, unconnected companies.
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To address these issues, Kompli-Global has launched Kompli-Investigate, a research utility, fraud prevention and detection system that enables fintechs and payments firms to undertake deeper investigations of companies and connected individuals.
“Companies House loopholes are almost single handily driving a huge percentage of UK fraud as the fraud is hardly ever in the first company a payment provider is taking on,” said Martin Pashley, chief commercial officer at Kompli-Global.
“It is cleverly buried in a complex web of connected companies and linked directors. This is why we are launching a database that replicates Companies House data, but in an intelligent, complete and logical way that exposes potential wrongdoing.”
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The new product has collated all Companies House data since 1986, linking and connecting all directors, owners, companies and addresses. It updates all new and changed information and re-maps the entire database every night.
Kompli-Global’s team then overlay known fraud characteristics and suspicious scenarios to give a risk prognosis for users, as well as alerting them to potential criminal activity.
Additionally, if a newly registered company is looking to open an account, Kompli-Investigate can flag all connected businesses and individuals to that company.
“Today’s fraudsters know exactly how to work the system but Kompli-Investigate is designed to significantly enhance payment providers’ fraud prevention efforts by supplying them with the information they need to really question the business they are taking on,” said Pashley.
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“For example, why is this business registered at the same address as 3,000 other businesses, why is it linked to 10 other businesses with the same directors, including a number that have been disqualified and haven’t submitted accounts for years. These are red flags that otherwise wouldn’t be picked up if you cannot unravel a fraudster’s web of companies and relationships.”