What is company hijacking?

Company hijacking is when a fraudster files false information against a legitimate company — typically appointing themselves as a director or changing the registered office — and then uses the company's identity and clean history to obtain credit, open accounts, or trade fraudulently.

Why are dormant companies targeted?

Because nobody is watching. A dormant company often has years of clean filing history, a good name, and an owner who checks Companies House once a year at most. A fraudulent change can sit unnoticed on the record for months.

Does Companies House check who files changes?

Historically, barely — most forms were accepted on trust. ECCTA identity verification (rolling out from late 2025) tightens this significantly, but paper routes and stolen authentication codes remain risks, which is why PROOF and monitoring still matter.

Company hijacking: how to protect your dormant company

By DormantFile · Updated 24 July 2026

Somewhere on the Companies House register right now, a fraudster is appointing themselves director of a company whose owner will not notice for months. The company they pick is rarely a busy trading business — it is almost always a dormant company: clean history, good name, and nobody watching.

This guide explains how company hijacking works, why your dormant company is exactly the kind of target fraudsters look for, and the three protections that shut it down.

What company hijacking is

Company hijacking (also called corporate identity theft) is the act of filing false information against a legitimate company to take control of its identity. The classic sequence:

A false officer appointment. The fraudster files a director appointment (form AP01) naming themselves or an accomplice, sometimes paired with a termination (TM01) removing the real director.
A registered office change. An AD01 moves the company's registered address to one the fraudster controls, so official mail — including anything from Companies House querying the changes — goes to them, not you.
Exploitation. With a "directorship" of a company that may have years of clean filings, they apply for credit, open trade accounts, order goods, or sell the company's identity on. Suppliers checking Companies House see a legitimate, established company.

The ECCTA identity-verification regime makes step 1 harder than it used to be — new directors must verify their identity — but paper filing routes, stolen authentication codes, and simple time-lags mean hijacking has not disappeared. Companies House can query and remove false filings, but only once someone notices.

Why dormant companies are the prime target

A trading company's directors are in its records weekly — a fraudulent change gets noticed in days. A dormant company is different:

Nobody is looking. Many owners interact with Companies House once a year, when the accounts are due. A change filed the week after can sit unnoticed for eleven months.
The history is clean. Years of on-time filings and no debt make the company more creditworthy in a fraudster's hands, not less.
The mail goes nowhere useful. Dormant companies often use an old accountant's address or a director's former home as the registered office, so Companies House's letters about the suspicious filing are never seen.

That combination — high value, low supervision — is why fraud-prevention guidance singles out dormant and non-trading companies as the highest-risk group for hijacking.

The three protections

1. PROOF — block the paper routes

The free Companies House PROOF scheme (PROtected Online Filing) is the single most effective protection. Once your company is registered, Companies House rejects paper versions of the protected forms — director appointments and terminations, registered office changes — so those changes can only be made through your authenticated WebFiling account. See What is the PROOF scheme? for how to sign up.

PROOF closes the easiest door, but it doesn't close every door: it protects specific forms, and it can't help if your authentication code itself has leaked. Guard the code like a password — our authentication code guide covers what to do if you think it's compromised.

2. Monitoring — catch what gets through

PROOF is a lock; monitoring is the alarm. If a filing does appear on your record, the damage grows with every week it goes unnoticed — so the goal is to know within a day, not at your next annual filing.

DormantFile's register watch does this automatically, including on the free watchdog tier: we check your company's Companies House record every day, and if any new filing appears — an officer change, an address move, an ownership (PSC) change, a name change — we email you the next morning. If it was you, dismiss the alert. If it wasn't, you've caught it in time to act.

Want to see where you stand right now? Our free company hijack check lists every filing on any company's record from the last 90 days and flags the control-changing ones — no signup needed. You can also check your filing history manually on the public register — the watch just does it for you, daily, without fail.

3. Fast reporting — undo the damage

If you find a filing you didn't make, act the same day. Our answer on reporting a false filing to Companies House walks through the exact steps: report it to Companies House's fraud team, apply to have the false information removed, and warn your bank if the company has an account. The registrar now has stronger powers under ECCTA to remove false entries — but the clock only starts when you report.

What this costs you

Nothing, realistically. PROOF is free. Checking your record is free. DormantFile's register watch is part of the free watchdog tier for one company — alongside deadline reminders and strike-off alerts — precisely because a hijacked company can't file anything ever again.

Ten minutes of setup buys you the thing fraudsters rely on you not having: someone watching.