EQUIFAX OPTIMA IDENTIFIES PHILIP GREEN COMPANY ID FRAUD
Equifax recommends companies monitor their own information to protect themselves from corporate ID fraud
London, 26th September 2005 - Leading business information provider, Equifax, has confirmed that it had identified the recently reported attempted corporate identity fraud committed against one of the companies of which entrepreneur Philip Green is a director.
Equifax had logged data reported by the Metropolitan Police Project St£rling initiative in August into it’s online business report, Optima, meaning that any businesses who might have checked on Philip Green’s company, Langley Road Investments, would have been alerted to the possible ID fraud. Equally, if Mr Green had used Equifax’s Portfolio Monitoring Service to monitor the information about Langley Road Investments, he would have received an alert from Equifax as soon as the information was changed.
Philip Green was alerted to the ID fraud after it was discovered that Langley Road Investments’ registered office had been changed without his knowledge. The fraudsters exploited the fact that Companies House, which keeps records of all limited companies, has no powers to check the information it receives.
“Businesses will be shocked to know how easy it is to change company documentation, names of directors and even trading addresses without their knowledge”, confirmed Neil Munroe, External Affairs Director, Equifax Plc. “That is why we are encouraging businesses to monitor their own company information – using the Equifax Portfolio Monitoring service they would be alerted to a change in the information held at Companies House as soon as it happened”.
“Corporate identity fraud has become a very real threat for today’s businesses with estimates that the direct and indirect costs could be as high as £50 million per annum. And unfortunately it is all too easy for a fraudster to make changes to a company’s information at Companies House without any checking or verification. Once done, this gives them the ability to masquerade as that company, ordering goods to be delivered to another address or getting access to other business services which they will never pay for. But the victim company will end up with outstanding debts they know nothing about, potentially affecting their credit status and reputation.”
Working in close partnership with the Metropolitan Police’s St£rling initiative launched earlier this year, Equifax has introduced two services to give increased protection to businesses from Corporate ID Fraud.
The Equifax Fraud Alert system uses information about reported suspect and confirmed frauds from both the Metropolitan Police and from Equifax’s customer database. The Fraud Alert appears on the Equifax Optima online report of the company in question and includes a description of the nature of the fraud or suspected fraud as supplied by the Police St£rling Liaison Team.
The Equifax Fraud Watch Service allows businesses to proactively report incidences of corporate ID fraud to which they have been victims using an online form available from www.equifax.co.uk/corporatefraud . The data from returned forms is assessed by Equifax’s corporate ID fraud experts and relevant information added to the Optima reports. Reported information is also passed to the ‘St£rling’ Team as part of the open communication between them and Equifax.
