How to Check That a Company Is Real

A professional website, a registered-sounding name and a friendly customer service agent are easy to fake. Before you pay a supplier, buy from an unfamiliar shop, invest money, or accept a job offer, it is worth spending ten minutes confirming the company actually exists and is who it says it is. Here is how.

Step 1: Search the official company register

Most countries have a public register of companies. Search for the exact name and, if you have it, the registration number.

Look at:

• Status: is the company active, or dissolved?
• Age: when was it registered? A company claiming "20 years of experience" registered last month is a red flag.
• Address and officers: do they match what you have been told?
• Nature of business: does it fit what they are selling or offering?

Step 2: Check regulated activities

If the company offers investments, loans, insurance or financial advice, it usually needs a licence from a financial regulator. Check the regulator's official register, such as the Financial Conduct Authority's register in the UK, and contact the firm using the details listed there, not those in an advert or message. Regulators also publish warning lists of firms known to be operating without permission.

Step 3: Check the physical address

• Search the address online and look at it on a map, including street view where available.
• Is it a real office, a residential flat, a virtual office shared by hundreds of firms, or an empty plot?
• Does the same address appear for many unrelated businesses?

A virtual office is not automatically suspicious for a small business, but combined with other warning signs it counts.

Step 4: Check the website

• Domain age: use a lookup service such as ICANN Lookup to see when the domain was registered. Very new domains for "established" businesses are a warning sign.
• Contact details: is there a real phone number, a physical address and a company registration number? Only a form or a WhatsApp number is a warning sign.
• Copied content: search a sentence from the "About us" page in quotation marks. Scam sites often copy text from real businesses.
• Payment methods: does it only accept transfers, crypto or mobile money to a personal account? See why scammers prefer these methods.

For more detail on websites, see how to check if a website is fake.

Step 5: Read reviews properly

• Check several independent sites, not only reviews on the company's own website.
• Search the company name with words like "scam", "complaint", "fraud" or "withdrawal".
• Be wary of many five-star reviews posted in a short period, with vague wording.
• Read the negative reviews; they often describe exactly how a scam works.

Step 6: Contact them through independent details

Call the number listed on the official register or on a long-established website, and ask about the offer, invoice or job you received. For supplier payments, never rely on contact details in the email that requested the payment. See our guide to invoice fraud and changed bank details.

Red flags that override everything else

• Upfront fees for jobs, loans, prizes or "release" of funds.
• Guaranteed or unusually high returns.
• Pressure to decide quickly or keep things confidential.
• Payments to a personal account rather than the company's.

Checking a company is one part of staying safe. For the full routine, read our guide on how to identify and avoid online scams.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Find and update company information, Companies House (UK)
2. ABN Lookup, Australian Business Register
3. Search for a federal corporation, Corporations Canada
4. Office of the Registrar of Companies, Government of Ghana
5. Financial Services Register, UK Financial Conduct Authority
6. ICANN Lookup, ICANN