TIMES.KY

Cayman Islands, Caribbeanand International News
Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024

The posh London address 4,000 firms call home

The posh London address 4,000 firms call home

Aspiring entrepreneurs know that an impressive office address can be a powerful asset.
Customers assume that if a business can afford to be based in an affluent area, it must be successful. But a Money Mail investigation today shows why you should think twice before trusting a grand-sounding location.

Number 207 Regent Street is a smart Portland stone building in central London, with five floors based above a shoe shop.

You might assume the rent would be eye-watering. Yet floor three could be yours for just £24 a month — as long as you don’t mind sharing with 3,900 other companies.

That’s because 207 Regent Street is what’s known as a virtual office.

It means that none of the firms’ staff are based at the address, and any post is just forwarded on to their ‘real’ location.

They are paying to be able to use the address on business cards and websites.

As the firm that rents out the space, Hold Everything boasts on its website: ‘Having a virtual office on London’s Regent Street exudes the height of professionalism and ensures your business looks established and trustworthy’.

Companies purporting to be based at the address range from retailers to private investigators. U.S. businesswoman, Jennifer Arcuri, who claims to have had a four-year affair with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, uses the address for her firm, Hacker House Ltd.

But while most businesses have a justifiable reason for wanting a virtual office address, some unscrupulous owners are exploiting the system.

Fraud and cybercrime reports have rocketed during lockdown, with individuals’ losses totalling around £148.8 million just last month, says Action Fraud.

And City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, has issued about half a dozen warnings about unauthorised firms claiming to be registered at 207 Regent Street.

These include the now-dissolved Coombes and Kiwonski Investments and a loan firm, Sky Quid, which conned victims out of about £20,000 by convincing them to pay deposits for loans that never materialised.

It’s around 11am on a Thursday when we arrive at the Regent Street office. A postman is heaving two bags of mail towards the entrance and opens the door for us.

Far from glamorous, inside there are piles of boxes and parcels filling up much of the cramped space. There is also a small boardroom clients can reserve for meetings.

Hold Everything’s owner, Richard Cooper, 52, is taking phone calls in the office. Wearing jeans and a fleece, he is a little defensive at first and insists his business is not doing anything wrong. And he is right. It is perfectly legal to rent out a virtual office space.

The problem is unscrupulous firms often target addresses where a lot of companies are registered as it can be easier to go undetected.

Usually, these business owners don’t even bother paying Mr Cooper the monthly fee. They just list his company’s address on their websites without his knowledge.

In fact, when Money Mail presented Mr Cooper with a list of six firms the FCA has issued warnings about, he said he did not recognise any of them — although they claimed to be registered at his Regent Street address.

Coombes and Kiwonski was even listed at Companies House as being registered at No 207.

Yet Mr Cooper says he has no record of the firm ever being a client.

‘I feel disgusted when I think that fraudsters have used the address to dupe victims,’ he says.

Experts say it is far too easy for crooks to register misleading information at Companies House, which holds a list of all limited businesses in the UK.

This is because Companies House is not authorised to check the accuracy of documents submitted, and is required only to ensure they have been completed and signed.

Fraud campaigner Mark Taber says: ‘If a customer searches for the address on Google maps and sees a legitimate office and other genuine firms registered there, it seems more credible.

‘If Companies House had to check addresses it would close another loophole.’
Newsletter

Related Articles

TIMES.KY
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×