PEOPLE in Keighley district will receive more warning to protect them from an increasingly common type of fraud.

The Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM) and The European Freight Trade Association (EFTA) have claimed victory, after Companies House added a warning to its website that information available on its site has not been independently verified.

Philip King, chief executive of CICM, a professional credit management body, and James Campbell, secretary of EFTA, asked Companies House to help challenge so-called "short-firm fraud".

This is when companies file deliberately false accounts and use credit to fraudulently obtain goods that are delivered to third-party addresses.

Companies House has now taken steps to display a more prominent warning throughout its website regarding the accuracy of information it holds, confirming this information has not been verified.

And it has created a dedicated e-mail through which businesses can raise concerns over bogus accounts – leintel@companieshouse.gov.uk

Mr King said: “We raised the issue, Companies House listened to us, and they have taken action. They should be commended for it.

“Credit managers use information at Companies House on which to base risk decisions, and need to be aware the information cannot always be trusted.

"Companies House data is useful as part of the decision-making process when it comes to granting credit, but should never be relied upon as the only source of information.”