Your Questions Answered Before You Check a Firm.

MetaAshes is an independent verification service operated by MetaFenix Management Ltd. Before you send money, it checks the details you have been given about a firm, its offer and its payment instructions against official records, and reports what matches and what does not. The result is a documented assessment: RISEN or BURNED.

Anyone in the UK who has been offered an investment and wants to check the firm before paying. It covers regulated investments (shares in private and listed companies, ISAs, funds, bonds and loan notes, forex and CFD trading, and pensions), gold, wine, whisky and crypto, and art, carbon credits and green energy investments.

The FCA Register confirms that a firm exists and is authorised. It cannot tell you whether the person contacting you works for that firm. Fraudsters copy the names, reference numbers and even the websites of genuine firms. MetaAshes checks whether the website, email address, phone number and payment details you were given belong to the firm on the register.

A search engine shows you what has been published about a firm, and some of that material may have been written or copied by the people contacting you. MetaAshes begins with the details you have actually been given and checks each one against official records, not against what happens to appear online. Searching for yourself also means consulting each record separately and judging whether the results fit together. MetaAshes brings that work together in one documented assessment, showing which details match the official records and which do not.

No. MetaAshes is an independent verification service and is not part of the FCA or any other regulator. It checks the information you have been given against official records, including the FCA Register, but each assessment is MetaAshes' own and does not replace the information published by the regulator. If you have concerns about a firm, you can also contact the FCA directly.

MetaAshes is operated by MetaFenix Management Ltd, a company registered in the United Kingdom. Gary Wood founded the service in response to a fundamental problem in investment fraud: how difficult it can be for someone considering an investment to establish whether the details they have been given genuinely belong together. The company number is 16921717, and the company is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under ZC187194.

You begin by choosing what you are being offered, then answer one question at a time about the firm, its contact details, the offer itself and how you have been asked to pay. MetaAshes checks each detail against official records and returns a report setting out the verdict, the reasons behind it and the steps to take next.

Have to hand whatever the firm has given you: its name, website, email address and telephone number, any reference numbers, the details of the offer and the payment instructions. Each question explains how the answer is used, so you can see which details matter for the particular offer you are assessing.

Some claims can only be checked with a specific detail. A fund or a listed share is identified by its ISIN or SEDOL code, and a wine or whisky seller by its VAT number or HMRC alcohol approval number. For a regulated investment, the assessment also needs either the firm's email address or the way you have been asked to pay, because without one of them there is nothing to test the firm's identity against. If a required detail is missing, ask the firm for that detail before you continue.

Yes. You can upload an email, letter or screenshot as a PDF, PNG or JPEG file of up to 8 MB. Its details are read into the form so that you can review them before you continue. Uploading requires a check in your account but does not use one.

MetaAshes runs 69 checks in 8 areas of risk, drawing on 16 official sources, including the FCA Register and Warning List, Companies House, HMRC, the ICO and the UK Sanctions List. Which checks run depends on what you are being offered. Take the tour to see how a report is built.

Usually a few minutes, including the time it takes to answer the questions.

Yes. Gold, wine, whisky, art and carbon credits fall outside FCA regulation, so MetaAshes checks them against the records that do apply, such as HMRC registers, trade body membership lists and the carbon registries. Crypto firms, by contrast, must be registered with the FCA, and that registration is checked. A firm is expected to hold FCA authorisation only where the law requires it.

MetaAshes assesses firms rather than individuals. If someone says they work for a firm, assess that firm using the contact details the person gave you. An overseas firm can also be assessed, although most of the records checked are held in the UK, so fewer of its details can be confirmed. A firm offering regulated investments to people in the UK generally needs to be authorised by the FCA.

No. MetaAshes does not contact the firm, and the firm is not told about your assessment. The checks read public records and the firm's public website, just as any other visitor would.

A RISEN result means that no critical concerns were identified in the information and sources examined at the time of the assessment. It is not a guarantee that the firm is genuine or that the investment is right for you, so continue to use your own judgement and make any further checks you consider necessary.

A BURNED result means that the assessment identified serious concerns in the information and sources examined. Do not send any money until every finding has been satisfactorily explained.

No. A BURNED result is an evidence-based assessment, not a finding of fact or a legal judgement. It shows which details do not agree with official records and therefore need to be explained before any money is sent.

No check can offer that guarantee. Records change over time, and even a genuine investment can prove unsuitable or fall in value. Use the report alongside your own judgement and, where appropriate, independent regulated financial advice.

Each result carries a risk level that reflects the strength of the findings: Low or Moderate for a RISEN result, and Elevated or High for a BURNED result.

It can, if the details you were given do not match the firm's own records: for example, a telephone number or bank account that does not belong to the firm. That is exactly how an impersonator appears, so contact the firm using the details published on the official register and ask about the difference. The assessment also includes fairness checks that recognise genuine arrangements, such as appointed representatives and companies within the same group.

Contact us with the reference shown on your report, and we will explain which records the finding came from. A result reflects the records as they stood at the time of the assessment. Because official records can change at any time, a result is not altered afterwards, but if a record has since been corrected, a new assessment will reflect the correction.

No. Every assessment applies the same rules, and no firm, partner or customer can pay to change a result.

• Single: 1 check for £14.99 (£14.99 each)
• Compare: 3 checks for £29.99 (£10.00 each)
• Portfolio: 6 checks for £49.99 (£8.33 each)
• Portfolio Plus: 12 checks for £79.99 (£6.67 each)

No. Each purchase is a single card payment, so there is nothing to cancel afterwards.

Only when you run an assessment. Starting the form, answering the questions and uploading a document do not use a check.

No. Your checks remain in your account until you use them and are removed only if you delete your account.

You can cancel a purchase within 14 days for a full refund, provided no check from that purchase has been used. Once a check from a purchase has been used, that purchase cannot be refunded, and a pack cannot be partly refunded. Read the Cancellation and Refund Policy.

If an assessment does not finish because of a fault on our side, the check is returned to your account automatically, normally within 30 minutes. If a source needed to reach a verdict cannot be contacted, no verdict is issued and the check is returned in the same way.

By card, through the secure payment page of Fondy Ltd, an electronic money institution registered with the FCA (FRN 900705).

Your answers are held in memory only while the assessment runs and are not saved to our database. Your assessment history keeps the firm's name, website and reference numbers, the product, the verdict, the risk level and the date. The full report is available to download for 48 hours, after which it is permanently deleted.

Your document is sent once to our AI service provider, Anthropic, so that its contents can be read into the form, and is not stored by MetaAshes. Before uploading, remove anything you would prefer not to share, such as account numbers or personal details unrelated to the offer.

No. You enter your card details on Fondy's payment page, and they are never passed to MetaAshes.

Yes. MetaFenix Management Ltd is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under ZC187194. Read the Privacy Notice.

Confirming your email address keeps your account secure and allows us to send you password reset links. An assessment cannot be run until your address has been confirmed.

Yes. You can permanently delete your account from your account settings. Purchase records that we are required by law to keep are retained for the period set out in the Privacy Notice.

If the same firm is assessed repeatedly with different details over a short period, the account is paused for review, because that pattern can indicate an attempt to learn how the checks work. Unused checks are never lost while an account is paused. Contact us if this happens to you.

Do not pay anything yet. Contact the firm using the details published on the official register, not the ones you were given, and ask about each finding. If the firm cannot account for the findings, do not proceed, and report the approach.

Call your bank immediately on 159, which connects you to most UK banks, or on the number on the back of your card. Then report the fraud to Report Fraud on 0300 123 2040, or, in Scotland, to Police Scotland on 101. Bank transfers made since 7 October 2024 may be reimbursed up to £85,000 if they are reported within 13 months.

No. MetaAshes does not investigate firms or recover money. Be wary of anyone who offers to recover lost money for a fee, because such offers are often a second scam. Read the guide to recovery scams.

Yes. You can download your report and share it with your bank or the police as supporting information, although it does not replace their own investigation.

Report the firm to the FCA on 0800 111 6768, and let us know through the contact page.

Yes. Contact us and choose Media and partnerships as the topic.

Use the contact page or email contact@metaashes.co.uk. If your question concerns an assessment, include your report reference, and never send us a password.