Search the Register Yourself, Not Through a Link
The Financial Conduct Authority keeps a public register of every firm authorised to carry out regulated activity in the United Kingdom, at register.fca.org.uk. Start the search by typing the firm's name yourself, and never by following a link sent in an email, a text message or an advertisement, because a fraudulent website can be made to look exactly like the register.
A genuine entry carries a Firm Reference Number. A legitimate firm will give you this number without hesitation, and it will match the register's entry for that exact company name.
Authorisation Does Not Cover Everything
A firm can be genuinely authorised and still not have permission to sell the product it is offering you. The register lists each firm's permitted activities separately, so a firm authorised to advise on mortgages, for example, is not authorised to arrange investments in shares or bonds.
It is therefore worth reading the permissions themselves. Finding the firm on the register is where the check begins, not where it ends.
The Tactic Most Often Used to Get Past This Check
The most effective tactic available to a clone firm is to quote a real firm's genuine reference number. The number passes any check, because it belongs to an authorised company. What differs is everything around it: the telephone number, the website, the email address and, above all, the bank account you are asked to pay.
The register records a genuine firm's official website and telephone number, and a bank can confirm whose name an account is held in. A difference in any one of these details matters far more than whether the reference number is real.
Appointed Representatives Are a Genuine Exception
Some firms trade as the appointed representative of a larger principal firm. They have no reference number of their own and quote their principal's instead. This arrangement is legitimate, and the FCA publishes the current list of appointed representatives for every principal. A fraudulent firm can try to imitate the arrangement, which is why the published list, rather than the firm's own account of itself, is what settles the question.
How MetaAshes Examines This
A MetaAshes assessment cross-references a firm's details against the official record in a single pass. For this question, the most relevant checks include:
- Ownership of the reference number
- Scope of regulatory permissions
- Official website on record
- Payee name verification
Frequently Asked
Can I trust a firm once it gives me a real FCA reference number?
No. A genuine reference number confirms only that the number belongs to an authorised company. It does not confirm that the person contacting you represents that company, which is why the website, telephone number and bank account should each be verified independently.
What if the firm has no website listed on the register?
Not every genuine firm has a website recorded on the register, and smaller advisers often do not. In that case, a Confirmation of Payee check on the bank account becomes the most important evidence, because it is far harder to fake than a website or a telephone number.
How long does a manual check of the register take?
A manual search takes a few minutes but examines one detail at a time. A MetaAshes assessment cross-references the firm, the product, the website, the telephone number, the email address and the payment instructions against the official record in a single assessment.
This guide is provided for general information and does not constitute financial or legal advice.